There has been concern about younger people, and women in particular, not saving enough for retirement and how to encourage further saving. Therefore, this study, part-funded by the Fawcett Society in association with Scottish Widows, explores female millennials' attitudes and motivations towards pension saving and auto-enrolment through the use of 40 semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The findings show that while the introduction of auto-enrolment pensions is generally positively received, pensions knowledge is still limited and this intensifies the risk of under-saving for retirement among millennial women, particularly given women's diverse work histories.

This chapter considers the gender and health implications of policies designed to extend working lives in Ireland from a feminist political economy of ageing perspective. The socioeconomic context, gender, pension and employment regime and the recent economic recession are discussed. Older Irish women's employment has increased from a low base but is still relatively low. There is a gender pay gap and a higher gender pension gap. Women's pension coverage is low compared to men's and they are more reliant on the lower non-contributory state pension. Reforms link pension amounts more closely to participation in paid employment, disadvantaging women who are more likely to leave paid employment for unpaid care-work. State pension age has increased quickly though the population is relatively young. For private sector workers, retirement age is typically 65, leaving a gap between retirement age and state pension age, currently 66 increasing to 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028.

The introduction of "soft" compulsion in the form of Autoenrolment into non-state pensions has been seen as a key policy response to the challenges presented by an ageing population and concerns about under-saving for retirement in the UK. Since its introduction in 2012, amongst eligible employees in the private sector, pension participation had risen by over 31 percentage points to 73% of eligible employees in 2016. Despite these trends, Auto-enrolment in the UK has not been without criticism, particularly in terms of its exclusion of certain groups, including carers, amongst whom females are over-represented. The Republic of Ireland (ROI) has recently announced its intention to implement an Auto-enrolment pension scheme. As such, this article examines the UK's experience of rolling out Auto-enrolment policy and considers lessons that could be learned by the ROI from the UK in its pursuit of Autoenrolment, with a particular focus on women's pensions. Initially it outlines the current Irish pension system, the gendered nature of pensions, and the proposed Autoenrolment system in ROI. Then it discusses the UK's experience of Auto-enrolment, with a particular focus on gender, before examining the lessons the ROI can learn from the UK's Auto-enrolment policy in relation to women and pensions. Finally, it concludes that Auto-enrolment alone will not resolve the gendered nature of pensions in the ROI and