Source: Retirement Commission
The Retirement Commission has released new analysis revealing the gender retirement savings gap cannot be attributed to a single cause but emerges from cumulative disadvantages across women’s lifetimes.
The comprehensive report, compiled by Martin Jenkins to support the Retirement Commission’s 2025 Review of Retirement Income Policies, delves into how key events and moments contribute to poorer retirement outcomes for women and what can be done to address it.
Men’s KiwiSaver balances are on average 25% higher than women’s. This gap gets more significant with age: it is a 37% gap for those aged 56-65.
The Improving Women’s Retirement Income report identifies six critical life stages where policy interventions can make the most significant difference for women:
- Formal education and training
- Work
- Relationship status
- Parenting
- Housing tenure
- Retirement.
The report proposes changes across several policy areas such as education, employment, housing, caregiving, and health. Suggestions include extending the Government’s KiwiSaver contributions for parental leave, including for those not contributing, and automating entitlement to a spouse’s KiwiSaver when a couple separate.
Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson says the report lifts the lid on the setbacks women face on their path to retirement and where action should be taken.
“It’s no surprise that women in Aotearoa reach retirement with less in their KiwiSaver accounts than men — we’ve seen this pattern for years. What’s important now is that we understand why.
“This research gives us clarity: it’s not just about earnings, it’s about the cumulative impact of life events, caregiving roles, and structural inequalities that shape women’s financial journeys. If we want to close the gap, we need to confront these realities head-on.”
The report draws on research and evaluation findings from New Zealand and overseas, which show that preventative policy levers can have substantial social and economic benefits in the long run.
MartinJenkins researcher EeMun Chen says, “The evidence shows that while earlier, preventative measures during women’s working lives may be costly, when we look at them in the long-term, there are substantial positive social and economic returns.”
A panel of experts will discuss the research at the National Strategy for Financial Capability’s Connection Series event in Auckland on Wednesday 17 September.
Policy levers worth investigating further for New Zealand, to reduce the retirement income gap between men and women:
- Formal education and training
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- Increase women’s financial capability through providing education and support at the right time and right place, with appropriate behavioural prompts and information
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- Work
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- Improve equity in KiwiSaver entitlements for low-income employees and sole traders
- Enable KiwiSaver contribution top-ups from different sources by lowering transaction and administration costs
- Revisit the default KiwiSaver fund strategy
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- Relationship status
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- Consider education, awareness raising, and automating the entitlement to a spouse’s KiwiSaver when a couple separate
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- Parenting
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- Extend the government’s KiwiSaver contributions for parental leave, including for women who are not contributing, and make employer contributions during parental leave easier for employers to administer
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- Housing tenure
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- Do further work to determine what proportion of older women (and men) who may be eligible for the Accommodation Supplement are not in fact receiving it
- Improve awareness of, and access to the Accommodation Supplement
- Raise the cash-assets limit, or make other similar interventions to improve the effectiveness of this policy
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- Retirement
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- Retain NZ Super and ensure there is cross-party support for a stable, long-term retirement income system
- Topping up of retirement contributions for caregiving
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About the research
Prepared by MartinJenkins for Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission, the report takes a life-course approach to understanding the key events and moments that contribute to the gap. The report identifies six critical stages where policy interventions could improve women’s retirement income outcomes and reduce that gap. The report should be read in conjunction with the accompanying journey map, which highlights and summarises the diversity of women’s experiences within each stage, the differences between women’s experiences and men’s, the effects of those differences for women’s retirement income, and the key policy levers that are available to address those effects.
MIL OSI
