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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many workingAmericans found it challenging toadequately save for their retirement. But when it comes tolooking at retirement income, women face additional challenges to be able tosuccessfully retire than just determining how much they should besaving or the correct investments to make.

So what causes this inequity? The primary reason is thegender pay gap. This pay gap eventually turns into a retirementwealth gap, per a recent study by the National Institute of Retirement Security(NIRS) "Still Shortchanged: An Update on Women's RetirementPreparedness."

The study used data from the 2014 Survey of Income and ProgramParticipation (SIPP), a household-based survey featuring anationally representative sample interviewed over a multi-yearperiod.

The data shows that there is a significant retirement incomedisparity between men and women of retirement age. In fact, thestudy said that women receive about 80% of the retirement income ofmen the same age receive, a disparity that "mirrors the gender paygap."

However, the study also found that there are additional factorsthat contribute to this disparity in retirementincome. Caregiving, especially spousal caregiving, has asignificant detrimental economic impact on women and theirretirement preparedness. This is due to the fact that women aremuch more likely to be the primary caregiver as they and theirspouse age.

In addition, the report shows that divorce also has a greaterimpact on retirement income for women than it does for men. Per thestudy, divorce can present a combination of issues relating to andimpacting retirement preparedness.

For example, specific situations like the timing of the divorceas well as the division of assets, can have a detrimental impact ona woman's retirement income more than a man in the samesituation.

And this disparity is compounded as a woman ages. An 80-year-oldwoman experiences a much steeper decline in income than a malecounterpart the same age. The reasoning is that women age 80 andolder are much more likely to outlive their husbands, and"widowhood presents challenges on both the income and cost side ofretirement."

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