International Women's Day 2026: 'Generation Setback: Why the Income Gap for Young Women is Growing Again'

The lifelong income gap in Switzerland has fallen from 33.1% for those born in 1975 to 32.1% for those born in 2025. Among the 14 countries examined, Switzerland ranks 14th. Although the gap between women and men has slightly narrowed over recent decades, comparing the 2000 and 2025 cohorts shows that the gap is beginning to widen again. Reforms are needed across all stages of working life to reduce the persistent disparities in income, capital returns, and pensions between women and men. Without expanding nearly full-time employment, the income gap risks persisting or widening across generations. Policy should work to remove existing barriers – such as increasing affordable childcare, eliminating tax disadvantages for second earners, and creating better conditions for full-time or nearly full-time employment. Meanwhile, women can help to further close the gap by enhancing their skills in handling AI and strengthening their financial education to better benefit from productivity gains and long-term wealth growth.

'Our study looks at lifetime income holistically – from earnings to savings and capital returns to pension entitlements. For Switzerland, the income gap between women and men over a lifetime for the 2025 cohort is expected to be 32.1%. This is almost at the level of the 1975 cohort. That is sobering,' explains Ludovic Subran, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Economist at Allianz. Differences in lifetime income arise mainly from earned income. Lower wages during working life limit wealth accumulation and lead to lower pension entitlements. Consequently, the risk of old-age poverty remains high.

The main reason for the comparatively large differences in earned income is the high part-time employment rate. Among those aged 25 to 49, 60.5% of women work part-time compared to 19.5% of men; for those aged 50 to 59, the figure is 68.7% for women and 17.5% for men. At the same time, employment rates are already high (80.8% for women versus 87.4% for men) and continue to converge, as do hourly wages: despite a current pay gap of around 15%, hourly wages are likely to align in the long term – women working part-time could surpass men in the 2060s, reaching parity in full-time work by the year 2100.

Nevertheless, due to the higher part-time rate, the average annual income of women is likely to remain significantly lower: in 2026, women in Switzerland will earn 34% less than men in total. Should current structural trends continue, the gap would still be 24% by the year 2100.

'To close the remaining income disparities between women and men, reforms are needed across all stages of working life,' says Katharina Utermöhl, Head of Thematic and Policy Research at Allianz Research. 'Important measures include more affordable childcare, the removal of tax disadvantages for second earners, and better conditions for full-time or nearly full-time work. At the same time, women should be more supported in participating in future productivity gains – for example, by closing the 16% gap in the use of AI in everyday work. For long-term wealth building, it is also important to save and invest early to benefit from the compound interest effect. Better financial education can increase annual returns by up to 1.5 percentage points.'

¹ To measure this cumulative effect, we have developed an integrated life cycle model that combines earned income, capital income, and pensions into a unified measure of lifetime income. Thus, we trace the income development of women and men born in 1975, 2000, and 2025 in major OECD countries.

2 Source: Eurostat (2025), Individuals - Use of Generative AI Tools, https://doi.org/10.2908/ISOC_AI_IAIU

3 Source: Allianz Research (2023), 'Playing the Squared Ball: the Financial Literacy Gender Gap', https://www.allianz.com/en/economic_research/insights/publications/specials_fmo/financial- literacy.html

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