Earlier this month, the world celebrated International Women’s Day where we took notice of all the inspiring and impactful things women have accomplished. It was also a day to pause and reflect on how we can inspire a more inclusive and equitable world for women. We want to be part of creating that world and we are on a mission to improve retirement income security for all Canadians. It’s why we advocate #pensionsforeveryone.

The retirement saving gap

While the world has evolved and women continue to have greater representation in the workforce, there is still a gap to be closed to ensure women can exit the workforce with the same confidence. Research shows women still experience significant barriers to saving for retirement compared to men. They experience different obstacles that make building secure retirement income even more challenging. Some of the obstacles include:

• More time away from work: From childbirth, to taking care of aging parents, women are more likely to take time off work to attend to family caregiving needs. This means less time to save up for retirement.
• Longer life expectancies: Women tend to live longer than men. And so, they would need more income to sustain them through a longer retirement¹.
• Lower wages: Although the gender wage gap is getting closer, women still earn less than men with a 16.1% difference between the annual median earnings of men and women². This is even more profound for Black, Indigenous, and women of colour, who received 26% less total retirement income than their white counterparts³.

With all this in mind, it becomes important to advocate for more accessible workplace retirement plans that can help address some of these challenges – with a defined benefit pension being one of them.

The CAAT solution

Although there is no blanket solution to creating retirement saving equality, a workplace defined benefit pension can address many of the challenges faced in retirement planning.

First, your CAAT pension provides a secure retirement income paid every month for as long as you live. This means your pension provides the longevity needed to tackle life expectancy challenges in retirement planning.

With your CAAT pension, you also have the option to ‘buy back’ additional pension for periods of your employment when you weren’t contributing to your pension plan. So, if you need to take caregiving breaks, you can still make up for lost time.

How you can help

We know studies indicate that women desire the features a defined benefit pension offers and want to see more have access to one. The good news is CAAT is on a mission to expand pension coverage across Canada, as the only pension Plan in Canada open to a variety of workplaces and industries. And you can help.

By becoming a Plan Ambassador, you join an incredible community of people championing secure retirement income for ALL Canadians. Sign up today!

¹Statistics Canada, Health at a glance, 2017
²OECD, Towards Improved Retirement Savings Outcomes for Women, 2021
³Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative, Colour Coded Retirement An Intersectional Analysis of Retirement Income and Savings in Canada, 2021