Research recently released shows that women are failing to take appropriate steps towards preparing for their retirement.

It has been found that only 41% of women who earn more than £10,000 a year are saving some of their income into a pension. This is in contrast with the 54% of men who earn more than £10,000 who save into a pension.

The figures were released by Scottish Widows and suggest that the gender pensions gap is getting worse, with the proportion of men making adequate pension contributions standing rising from 49% last year to 54% this whilst the figure for women has not changed at all.

As well as fewer women saving towards their pension it was also revealed that on average women contribute just 66% of the average made by men.

Scottish widows has said that the main reason for fewer women contributing less than men was a direct result of the fact that on average women earn 62% of what men earn. This means that women simply have less money to save.

As well as women have less money to save, they are also more likely to spend any money the do earn on their children or simply give up work all together to look after their family.

The figures form the insurer show that 36% of women have at least one dependent child and 28% of women had either reduced or stopped their long term pension saving as a result.

With the rising debt burden of the average household, these are worrying figures for UK citizens. The era of easy credit has meant that many women have over-extended themselves with unsecured loans for weddings and holidays, credit and store cards and catalogue accounts.

With the recent rises in the costs of living, many households will now be paying out more on bills and making minimal repayments on overdrafts and loans, leaving even less money for pensions and savings.