With International Women’s Day 2025 taking place on 8 March, European Pensions takes the temperature on key developments in Europe over the past year that could impact the gender pensions gap. Written by Paige Perrin

Our gender pensions gap thermometer highlights the ‘hot and not’ developments relating to the gender pensions gap since the last International Women’s Day in March 2024.

And while positive, the ‘hot’ changes, including Norway’s abolishment of the pension enrolment limit for nurses and Belgium sex workers being granted pension rights, are incredibly niche.

These advancements do not tackle the broader, systemic issues that continue to contribute to the gender pensions gap across Europe. Indeed, as highlighted by our thermometer, the gap has widened across Europe. Even in countries such as Germany and Austria, which rank among the best, progress remains slow and challenges persist.

These countries still struggle with the same core issues. Women live longer than men, take on more caregiving responsibilities, and are more likely to work part-time.

Our thermometer presents a snapshot of the disadvantages facing women in Europe when in comes to achieving an adequate income in retirement. Measuring progress on a single scale is difficult, as each country has a different pension system and varying policies on gender equality, even if they share some similarities.

So, what’s next? While we’ve made progress, the road ahead remains long and challenging.

There is a need for more comprehensive and targeted policy changes across Europe. It’s important that we don’t just celebrate small wins but instead focus on the larger structural issues that continue to exacerbate the gap.

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) chair, Petra Hielkema, has been a strong advocate for closing the gender pensions gap and her advocacy carries weight due to the prominence of her role. In particular, Hielkema believes that dashboards could be a solution to the gender pensions gap.

While dashboards may improve transparency and reduce the number of lost pension pots, they do not address the root causes, such as career breaks, caregiving responsibilities, and part-time work, that drive pension inequality. These issues need to be addressed with concrete policy changes, as mere awareness will not solve them.

I believe it is about action and policy. Sure, awareness is a good first step on the road, but it cannot address the systemic inequalities that cause the gender pensions gap.

The reality is that women are more likely to take career breaks or work part-time, whether for maternity leave, caregiving responsibilities or health issues, and as a result, they often earn less over their lifetimes. These gaps in earnings translate directly into gaps in pension contributions, which accumulate and widen over time. The pension system was designed based on the assumption that workers would follow a continuous career path, but this assumption does not hold for women, who face different life choices and circumstances.

We must find ways to compensate for these contribution gaps both during and after career breaks.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for targeted policies. Governments could introduce pension credits for carers, similar to systems in Sweden and the UK, where time spent caregiving is recognised in pension calculations. Employers should also play a role, whether through pension contributions during maternity leave or more flexible retirement options that allow women to work longer without financial penalties.

While education and transparency are important, the solution lies in policies that actively compensate for the caregiving and career interruptions that disproportionately affect women. Until such policies are implemented, the pension gap will continue to exist, and women will continue to face financial insecurity in retirement.

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