“We need to stand up and acknowledge that we are good at managing finances. We might do it in a different way to the majority of men, but we are very good at it,” said Rachael Ingle, managing director at Aon Hewitt and former chairperson of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, in the latest episode of The Women’s Podcast.

She urged women to “take control” and “be proactive” about their pension funds to improve their financial wellbeing when they retire.

Ingle said women make a difference to financial results. Companies with women in their executive management group, for example, get better returns for their shareholders.

She told guest presenter and Irish Times columnist Bernice Harrison: “If we can do it in a broad sense for countries, for companies and for households, then we can do it for ourselves.”

Women fare worse than men when it comes to retirement for many reasons, including lower salaries, more gaps in their careers due to caring for children and elderly relatives and a longer life expectancy.

Personal finance expert and Irish Times journalist Fiona Reddan talked about the six things every woman needs to know about the State pension to make sure they get the most value from their entitlement.

“We think there’s an automatic qualification for a State pension, but that isn’t true,” she said.

Also on the podcast, Oscar-nominated writer Emma Donoghue talked to Roisin Ingle about the movie version of her novel, Room. The story of a mother and her five-year-old son kept prisoner in a squalid room is up for four Oscars, including best adapted screenplay for Donoghue.

“To be nominated for awards that my friends have heard of is just extraordinary…It’s getting so much attention for this fairly low-budget film, so I’m just thrilled,” she said.

“We’ve had support from the Irish Film Board from the start, so it’s the kind of film that might have slipped by people but because it’s getting so much awards buzz, lots of people are hearing about it.”

Later in the podcast, Irish Times journalist Anthea McTeirnan talked Star Wars to female fans of the movie and gave us her own thoughts on why The Force Awakens has awakened the feminists.

The Women’s Podcast question of the week is: What is your biggest financial concern or worry at the moment?

Listeners are invited to tweet their answers to the question of the week to @ITWomensPodcast, post to our Facebook page or email thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com.

Individual episodes of the podcast are available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher.