Why Retirement Is Different for Women

Some strides have been made toward gender equality since women won the right to vote in 1920. But men and women aren't exactly equal when it comes to retirement.

Women are more likely than men to spend their golden years in poverty. According to a report from the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, more than one in 10 women in retirement live on less than $10,000 a year.

The reason is attributable to financial physics: Women earn less than men over their lifetimes and live longer.

"This is not a complicated picture. And it's not a pretty picture," says Jim Toedtman, editor of the AARP Bulletin.

Women are risk averse

It's not that women don't worry about retirement. A recent study from the Society of Actuaries, "Risks and Processes of Retirement Survey Report," found that women are more anxious than men about that time of their lives.

"The actuaries found that women are more concerned about the risks," says Anna Rappaport, consulting actuary and chair of the Society of Actuaries' Committee on Post-Retirement Needs and Risks. "Fifty-seven percent of women are concerned about being able to afford long-term health care compared to 47 percent of men."