Women are getting bigger pension benefits.

Female workers have made steady gains in pension coverage and benefits in recent years, but they still lag behind their male counterparts, the Employee Benefit Research Institute reported. Women employees entitled to retirement benefits increased from 26% to 44% of plan participants between 1972 and 1983, according to the Washington-based research center. The researchers found that never-married women had the highest pension benefits of all women, apparently reflecting their emphasis on careers. But an analysis of 1982 data showed that even this group, with average yearly pensions of $3,668, trailed married male workers, who averaged $4,811.