The gender pension gap means women have 43 per cent less in their pension pots when they get to 55 than men.
Research from Royal London found despite there being parity in pension participation rates between the two genders, women end up worse off at retirement.
Data from almost 2mn customers, showed compared to men, women typically save less for their retirement throughout their working lives, with a gap of 16 per cent in their 30s rising to 43 per cent by the time they reach age 55.
It said this is not a difference in engagement in pension, with women actually more likely than men to put pensions at the top of their wish list when applying for a new job.
One of the main reasons for the difference is that many women take on lower paid part-time jobs to juggle employment with looking after others with around a million women under 50 not working due to caring responsibilities.
Clare Moffat, pensions expert at Royal London, said: "Millions more women may now be saving thanks to auto enrolment, but we can’t escape the fact that parenthood and caring responsibilities interrupt women’s working lives. It’s an issue that affects their take home pay, career opportunities and ultimately their pensions savings.
“The decisions taken about stepping back from work, or reducing hours to care for children, have such significant implications for the future that it’s worth considering all the options. It’s not that a different decision would be reached, but many women look back and wish they’d known more at the time about the actions they could have taken.
“At the start of people’s career, there’s not much of a difference in the pension savings between men and women, but the effect of having a family and reducing their hours means the gap widens significantly as time goes by. So, at the point of retirement, women typically only have around £60 saved for every £100 that men have."
Moffat said on top of this, women on average live longer than men meaning they actually need more money for retirement.
She added: "It is also nice to put the myth to bed that women are less interested in pensions. A move that hopefully shows greater empowerment and control of their long-term finances.”
Royal London advised women should saving into a pension as early as possible to allow small sums to grow to larger sums over time along with reviewing pension savings once a year and making a retirement plan.
The research also found more men than women take advantage of employer matching contributions, with half of women saying affordability is a barrier to this.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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