"It doesn't help that so many women are now pulled out of the workforce because of Covid," said certified financial planner Zaneilia Harris, president of Harris & Harris Wealth Management Group, based in the Washington metro area.
More than 2.3 million women have left the workforce since February 2020, bringing their labor force participation rate down to levels not seen in more than three decades, according to the National Women's Law Center.
Yet, women are outliving men.
"I don't know if it is a conscious thing, but we don't encourage women to think about money in the way that we often encourage men to," said Heather Zepeda, managing director at Northwestern Mutual in Washington.