Women need retirement planning

A perusal of Statistics Canada’s website contains a wealth of information about the plight of many women as they near retirement. Here are some key facts on the average woman in Canada: they live longer than men; they earn less than the average male ($14,300 per year less); they retire younger than the average male; they head up the majority of single parent households; they have shorter working careers than men. Each of these factors contributes to women, as a group, being financially less prepared for retirement than men. They will spend more time in retirement yet have fewer pension assets and lower Canada Pension Plan entitlements than men do.
Women who stay at home to raise children are often penalized for taking care of their families. Men stay in the work force from teenage years to retirement. Women often start work as teenagers and when they decide to have a family they often opt to stay home and raise children even if for only a year or two. This is time during which they have reduced income and therefore cannot save as much. Also, they are probably not contributing to the Canada Pension Plan or an employer pension plan. It can take five years to make up for lost wages and retirement assets for every year a woman takes off work. While both working outside of the home, and raising the children, are a necessary part of our society and family life, raising children is often seen as less than”, not as important as,” having a job. While men in the workforce are building retirement plans, there are no retirement plans for a woman who stays at home with the children. It is sad that our country does not value the care that mothers provide for our children, and the future of our country, more than that.
Women often retire at a younger age than men for a number of reasons. Some leave employment because household costs decrease when the children have gone out on their own and the mortgage is paid off which reduces the family’s need for a second income. Some women prefer to retire when their husbands, who are often older, retires. Other women are taking time out at the end of their paid working lives to take care of aging relatives. These factors, combined with the female population’s longer life expectancy, mean that the average woman will end up with a clash between the resources available to support a comfortable retirement and the length of the expected retirement.