Gender has long played a huge role in the financial independence and standing of women globally. As per the recent 2022 Global Gender Wealth Equity report by advisory firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW), gender also plays a huge role in the retirement and wealthy equity of women.
As per the report, women reach retirement with just 74 per cent of wealth accumulated by men. The study further revealed that this gender wealth gap is only grows wider with seniority. As highlighted by the report, women in senior and leadership roles had only 62 per cent accumulated wealth of their male counterparts at retirement. When it came to mid-level and technical roles, the gap stood at 69 per cent. For frontline operational roles, the gap was narrower at 89 per cent, still a substantial difference.
The Asia Pacific (APAC) region showed one of the lower wealth gaps on average, based on gender wealth equity, standing at 76 per cent. India however, showed the largest gender wealth gap in the APAC region at 64 per cent. The study revealed that gender pay gaps played a major role in contributing to this wealth gap. Moveover, opportunities for women in leadership positions also seem to be limited with just 3 per cent of senior positions in the workforce being occupied by women.
As per a statement in a press release about the report, Manjit Basi, Senior Director, Integrated & Global Solutions, WTW, said, “The results from our global analysis are startling. It shows that there is a gender wealth gap consistently across the 39 countries that we studied. The primary drivers contributing to gender-based wealth disparity include gender pay gaps and delayed career trajectories. Additionally, gaps in financial literacy and family caregiving responsibilities outside the workplace influence women’s participation in paid employment and therefore their ability to build wealth.”
Image used for representational purposes only.