Women are catching up with men when it comes to what they havesaved up in their retirement plans and the rate at which they'resetting money aside.

According to fourth quarter 2012 data for defined contributionplans administered by MassMutual, the average deferral rate forwomen participants was 5.38%, an increase of 1.6% for the quarter.Men deferred an average of 5.81%, which was an increase of 1.2%from the third quarter of 2012.

According to MassMutual, the gap between what men and women saveis gradually and consistently closing. Since the third quarter of2010, when the average account balance among women participantstrailed that of men by 40.49%, the gap has been gradually closing.During the fourth quarter last year, the average account balanceamong women was 38.25% behind their male counterparts, animprovement of 2.49 percentage points, or 5.6%.

“This is a positive trend and we are so pleased to see slow butsteady progress for our participants, especially our femaleparticipants,” says Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president ofMassMutual's Retirement Services Division and chairman, presidentand CEO of MassMutual International.

“We have customized our participant education offering on anumber of fronts to drive action among specific segments such aswomen, and the progress we are seeing indicates that participantsare responding favorably,” Sarsynski said.

The vast majority (73%) of asset allocation investments forfemales are in age-based strategies, while men are almost evenlydivided between age-based and risk-based strategies, at 52% vs. 48%respectively.

Loan activity among MassMutual's participants is well below theindustry average, indicating the company's call centerrepresentatives and educational programs are successfullycommunicating that taking a loan from a retirement vehicle shouldbe a last resort. The percentage of participants in plansadministered by MassMutual taking any kind of loan or withdrawal isthe lowest of any 4th quarter in the past five years.

Average balances and average deferral rates are highest for theSilent Generation (born 1945 and earlier) and Baby Boomers (born1946 – 1964). Combined, Generation Y and Generation X participants(born between 1965 and 1995) represent 56% of total participantsand 32% of defined contribution assets.

While GenX/Gen Y participant numbers are higher than the BabyBoomer count at 40% of participants, Boomers still have a greatershare of the overall assets at 61%, but that gap, too, isclosing.

This article was originally posted at BenefitsPro.com, a sistersite of Credit Union Times.