By the time women reach age 55 they have on average 43% less in their pension pot than men, according to data from Royal London.

Its research shows that pension contributions differ significantly by age, job type, and income.

The one consistent is that the gender pension gap impacts women at every stage of their career, leaving them worse off in retirement.

Despite near parity in pension participation rates between the sexes, data from nearly two million customers saving with Royal London showed that, compared to men, women typically save less for their retirement throughout their working lives.

The pension gender gap is just 16% when women are in their 30s but it soars to 43% by the time they reach age 55.

While there was once a perception that women were less likely to engage with their pension, the narrative has changed, Royal London said, with its research showing that when it comes to the importance placed on pensions as a workplace benefit, there is no gender difference.

In fact, women are more likely than men to put pensions at the top of their wish list when applying for a new job.

Clare Moffat, pensions expert at Royal London, said: “It’s nice to put the myth to bed that women are less interested in pensions. A move that hopefully shows greater empowerment and control of their long-term finances.”

One of the key factors responsible for the gender pensions gap is the different working patterns between men and women. Many women take on lower paid part-time jobs to allow them to juggle employment and looking after others.

Significantly, around one million women below age 50 don’t work due to caring responsibilities. It’s an issue that disproportionately affects women. Figures from the ONS show that older female workers are twice as likely to take on caring responsibilities.

Many employers offer valuable pension matching, so it's encouraging that, overall, two-fifths of workers put more than the standard amount into their pension each month to take advantage of employer matching.

However, there is an imbalance between the sexes with more men than women taking advantage of employer matching contributions (48% versus 41%). Affordability is a barrier for half of women, compared to 39% of men who cite this as the reason for not using employer matching.

Clare Moffat said: “Millions more women may now be saving thanks to auto enrolment, but we can’t escape the fact that parenthood and caring responsibilities interrupt women’s working lives. It’s an issue that affects their take home pay, career opportunities and ultimately their pensions savings.

“At the start of people’s career, there’s not much of a difference in the pension savings between men and women, but the effect of having a family and reducing their hours means the gap widens significantly as time goes by. So, at the point of retirement, women typically only have around £60 saved for every £100 that men have.”

She pointed out that, on average, women live longer and therefore have longer retirements, so need more money for their retirement than men.

• Figures based on data from nearly two million workplace customers, with a 41% female and 59% male split as at end H1 2024 and research carried out between 31 July and 5 August with 3,693 UK workers with a workplace pension.