International Women’s Day is both a celebration and a call to action. It is an opportunity to reflect on the progress women have made in the workplace and to look honestly at where barriers persist. One of these barriers is saving adequately for retirement. Women make up approximately 65% of our member population at WISE Trust, and we view women’s retirement security as critically important for those whom we serve.

Understanding the pension gender gap

Canada’s retirement income system is often described as strong. But strength at the system level doesn’t guarantee equity at the individual level. Research from Ontario’s Pay Equity Office finds a persistent gender pension gap of 17%  for women in Canada.

This gap is not the result of poor choices or lack of effort. It is the predictable outcome of how compensation, caregiving, work patterns, and retirement systems intersect over the course of a lifetime.

What drives the gap?

Saving for retirement can be challenging for anyone, but many women in Canada face a set of compounding factors that make it harder to build retirement security, even when they are disciplined savers and careful planners.

• Life expectancy: Women tend to live about four years longer than men on average. While longevity is a success story, a longer retirement increases exposure to inflation, rising health and care costs, and the risk of outliving savings.
• The gender pay gap: As recently as 2023, women in Canada earned 28% less on average annually than their male counterparts (meaning women made $0.72 for every dollar made by men). This gender pay gap results in lower lifetime earnings and reduced capacity to save for retirement.
• Caregiving responsibilities: Women still do more care work – child bearing, child rearing, and caring for aging parents. These caregiving responsibilities often translate to career interruptions, less-than-full-time work, and slower advancement. The result: lower earnings and gaps in retirement savings coverage and adequacy that echo into retirement.

Taken together, these factors mean women, despite living longer, are more likely to retire with less income, more uncertainty, and fewer buffers.

Why defined benefit pensions matter, especially for women

Defined benefit (DB) pensions, like the Pension Plan administered by WISE Trust, play a critical role in supporting women’s retirement security. Unlike savings-based plans (such as RRSPs or defined contribution pension plans) that place the burden of investment and longevity risk on individuals, DB plans pool longevity and investment risk across members and offer predictable lifetime retirement income. Some DB plans even mitigate inflation risk by providing some form of indexing. The result is that individuals are not left to manage the risk of market downturns or outliving their savings. This stability is especially meaningful for women given their longer life expectancy and higher likelihood of interrupted careers or non-linear work patterns.

However, even strong pension plans must be supported by thoughtful plan design and policy. Pension systems have historically been built around the assumption of continuous, full-time employment and calibrated to reward the amount of time spent in the labour force and earnings from paid work. As we know, that assumption doesn’t reflect the reality of many women’s working lives.

Addressing the gender pension gap requires intentional choices that recognize non-linear careers, value caregiving and expand access and flexibility. Across the pension landscape this includes increasing accessibility for temporary or part-time workers and supporting buyback provisions for periods of reduced or interrupted service.

At WISE Trust we are proud that members benefit from inflation protection and flexible options to strengthen their pensions and reduce coverage gaps, including contributions during eligible leaves and the ability to purchase past service for periods of leave and part-time or temporary employment.

The impact of financial literacy and confidence gaps

Plan design and policy changes alone are not enough. Retirement outcomes are shaped not only by income and time in the workforce, but also by understanding and confidence. Women often report lower confidence navigating retirement planning decisions. This is not about capability; it reflects unequal access to financial education, differences in socialization around money, and the complexity of retirement systems.

In the 2025 WISE Trust member survey, we found that 75% of respondents (67% of whom were female) wanted to learn more about their pension, including the impact of life events like parental leave and their options to buyback service, and 18% self-report extremely limited knowledge of how their pension works.

When confidence is lower, people are less likely to ask questions, explore options, or take advantage of tools that could improve outcomes.

Addressing the gender pension gap also means recognizing that financial literacy is not simply an individual responsibility: it involves ensuring that plan communications are clear and accessible and providing members with the tools and information they need to make informed decisions.

The focus at WISE Trust

At WISE Trust, closing the gender pension gap is not an abstract policy goal. It is a practical, member-focused priority that involves continued review of plan design and policy, targeted communications, and ensuring women feel confident, supported and equipped to make decisions about their pensions. Importantly, improvements that help women help all members.

In my role as Vice President, Pension Strategy & Services, here are a few things I am focused on:

• Continued review of purchase of service provisions and policies for leaves of absence and periods of temporary and less-than-full-time employment.
• Ensuring women (and all members) understand their options, especially around leaves of absence and periods of part-time and temporary employment. These provisions can meaningfully improve retirement outcomes, but only if members know they exist, understand them, and feel supported in using them.
• Improving education and tools, including more accessible, targeted communications and a more proactive approach to outreach and education to help members see their retirement picture and understand the impact of choices. Understanding and confidence grow when information is clear, communications are tailored, and members feel they have “permission” to ask questions.

A closing thought for International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day reminds us that progress is not a destination, it is a commitment. A commitment to keep improving the systems that shape women’s economic security. A commitment to recognize caregiving, non-linear careers, and longer lives not as exceptions, but as realities. And a commitment to ensure women can look to retirement with confidence, dignity, and financial stability.

At WISE Trust, we believe good pension outcomes for all members should not depend on uninterrupted careers or specialized financial knowledge. They should be the result of strong governance, intentional design, and a relentless focus on member outcomes.

When we strengthen pension outcomes for women, we strengthen retirement security for everyone and build a more equitable future for all members. That is work worth doing not just on International Women’s Day, but every day.