Why is the state pension age different for men and women?

to be honest, men could actually pose a greater reason for inequality in the basic state pension age as men in the UK on average have a lower life expectancy than women and have to wait longer to claim.

a woman at age 60 could be expected to live an average of 25 or more years whereas a man at 65 might only have 16!

when the original state retirement ages were devised, very few men even lived to 65 and the pension was a nominal sum and often only paid out for a couple of years as you had to be almost on the poverty line to be eligible and therefore generally had a very low quality/standard of living.

the most likely reason for the age gap would have been looking at age differences between couples and that 5 years was an average gap between men and women in relationships therefore when the man was 65 and retiring, the woman on average was 60 so it enabled both to retire together.

ultimately as life expectancy has improved dramatically, the taxpayer cannot afford to pay a generous pension to everyone at such a young age after already having reduced the number of years to qualify for a maximum pension to only 30 years.

a woman used to pay in for 90% of 44 years and a man for 90% of 49 years. so you can see women also paid in less and in theory got the same as men - this to some degree would have compensated for raising a family and not working but again, when the state pension was devised it was highly uncommon for women to be working whereas in today's more modern society women are the main breadwinners in some families/relationships.

it might be considered hard for the age to be increased but lets be honest, no one can actually afford to live on only £100pw regardless of whether thats at 60 / 65 / 70 so people have to do more to plan for their own financial future.

you have omitted to mention that men will see their age rise to 66 before women will, and the young (born from the 1960s on) will reach state retirement much later, i'm already set to age 67 but expect that to rise - but im not relying on my state pension to keep me, in fact i would be surprised if its still in its current form in 30 years time.

you can check your state pension age here:

http://pensions.direct.gov.uk/en/state-pension-age-calculator/home.asp

but remember the benefit of planning your own retirement is that you dont have to wait until 60/65/70 etc. a personal pension will give access at 55 (this will probably rise in the future too) but if you have other assets you can stop working whenever you like!

my view is that its always best to control your own destiny rather than relying on a "nanny state".

Having different state pension ages has seemed unfair (mainly by men!) for many years. But of course the ages will eventually equalise, though this is not a process which can be done overnight because people must be given time to make and adjust their plans.

There is, as I am sure you are aware, no gender differences in the regulations that govern when personal or occupational pensions can be taken. An interesting point is that, although there is no difference when men and women can take their personal pension, men will receive more than women of the same age because of womens anticipated longer lifespan.