The "gender gap" in retirement savings may be explained, in part, by differing financial goals.

While the top financial priority for men is to "maintain lifestyle in retirement," for women, the number one goal is to "not become a financial burden to loved ones," according to a 2012-2013 study by Prudential. But putting family first can be a setback to accumulating savings. 

Like many women looking toward retirement, entrepreneur Lorin Palmer says figuring out how to juggle family and personal finances has been an important lesson for her to learn over the years. Palmer, a 56-year-old funeral home owner in Sumter, South Carolina, finds making final arrangements for other families is instructive, underscoring the importance of ramping up planning for her own financial future. 

VIDEO: Sharon Epperson reports on the obstacles many women face, and how it is never too late to ramp up savings to meet retirement goals

"I have learned that in this business just as families preplan, they come in and they make funeral arrangements and they pay for them in advance. Likewise that same principle applies with retirement planning," Palmer says.  

Palmer - the third generation in her family to own this funeral business - believes careful planning is critical not only for her own nest egg, but her son's financial future as well. 

But like many women, she says staying on track hasn't been easy. 

"I've been through a divorce. I've raised a son as a single parent. I have educated my son," she says. All of these milestones have taken a toll on her savings. Many more women face similar challenges. 

A recent study by the State Farm Center for Women and Financial Services at the American College found that about 64 percent of all women say that their family's needs are really impeding their ability to save for retirement and only 42 percent of women say they save a certain amount each month. 

Since women generally make less money than men, how much money they'll be able to save is affected by those factors as well. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department, white women earn about 81 cents for every dollar white men earn. Black women earn 67 percent of what white men earn and Latino women earn only 60 percent. 

Women also spend 12 years out of the workforce on average to care for their families, according to the American College study, further impacting their retirement savings. Caregiving for children and parents, possible layoffs, disability are all factors that can derail women's savings. 

"We have to take a look at the things that could happen that would prevent the retirement date that you want, health issues, divorce, losing a family member," says financial advisor Deborah Breedlove with Ameriprise Financial. However, considering these issues early and how they could impact finances can encourage some women to start to save more. Breedlove says using 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth accounts and diversifying investments within those portfolios can help many clients reach their intended goals. 

Palmer says she wishes she had saved more for retirement, but she realizes it's not too late. She believes she now has an effective plan in place. She is putting herself first, so she can leave a legacy for her son and her family.

Sharon Epperson is CNBC's personal finance correspondent.  

In 2011, men working full-time earned a median income of $48,765. Women earned just $38,373. That difference of more than $10,000 tells only part of the story of the continuing gender wage gap in the U.S. Depending on the industry, men in some states earn as much as $20,000 to $30,000 more a year than women. In some cases, the difference is even greater. Men in corporate managerial positions earn roughly $35,000 more than women working full-time in the same field.

Income inequality is severe in some industries, and there are certain states with concentrations of these businesses. In these states, the gender earnings gap for full-time workers is extremely high. In Wyoming, where there are several of these "pay disparity" occupations, women earned $17,838 less than men in 2011 — the largest disparity among all states. Based on data from the Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey, 24/7 Wall St. identified the worst-paying states for women.

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In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Institute for Women’s Policy Research study director Ariane Hegewisch explained that the biggest reason for the pay gap between men and women in these states came down to where people are employed. While the gap in pay still exists in nearly every occupation, she said, it is much narrower in fields such as health care, education and real estate. Nationally, the income gap for educational services is $7,408, while in real estate it is less than $5,000.

In states where more people are employed in blue-collar work, women are more likely to work in sectors where the pay is much lower than it is for men in blue-collar positions.

Hegewisch explained that in states where more workers are blue collar, men are able to find employment in jobs such as resource collection and construction — positions that are still predominantly male and allow for bonuses and overtime and generally higher pay. In North Dakota, for example, the booming natural gas industry employs hundreds of thousands of workers. In 2011, 90.9 percent of oil, mining and extraction workers in the state were male. Those few women who were employed in that industry earned $46,301 less than men. All five states with the highest proportions of workers in this field are among the 10 with the highest gender wage gap.

In states like North Dakota, women are often found to be working in lower-paying fields, especially retail. While the income gender gap is closer to the national wage gap in this field, at less than $9,000, the fact that a disproportionately large number of women are employed in this field results in a wide income gap statewide. In West Virginia — which has one of the greatest gender wage gaps in the country — the largest employer is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. As of 2011, 54.8 percent of West Virginian retail workers were women, the third-highest proportion in the country. Women working full-time in retail in West Virginia earned a median of just $14,304.

In the states with the largest wage gap between men and women, it is not always the case that full-time income for women is lower than in other states. In five of the 10 states, income for women was among the top 10 in the country. However, in those states, earnings among men were even higher. For example, in Massachusetts, women working full-time earned a median of $47,302, the fourth highest in the country. However, men in the state earned more than $60,000.

The gap in pay in some of these states is even more pronounced in their cities. In five major metropolitan statistical areas, male pay exceeds female pay by at least $20,000. Most of the 10 metro areas with the widest gender pay gap are in the 10 states with the highest pay gaps. In Casper, Wyo., which has the worst pay gap in the country, men earn more than $25,000 more than women.

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To identify the states that pay women the least, 24/7 Wall St. compared the median incomes for the past 12 months of both men and women who worked full-time, year-round in each state, based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and released as part of the 2011 American Community Survey report. From the survey, we included in our analysis the proportion of workers in each state employed in each industry, as well as the gender distribution and gender-specific income in each of these industries. We also reviewed 2011 unemployment rates.

1. Wyoming

• Difference in full-time, year-round income: $17,838
• Female full-time, year-round median income: $35,698 (24th lowest)
• Male full-time, year-round median income: $53,536 (ninth highest)
• 2011 unemployment rate: 6 percent (seventh lowest)

Much of Wyoming’s pay gap can be attributed to the jobs available in the state. Wyoming had the highest percentage of people working in occupations involving natural resources, construction and maintenance, as well as agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and mining. While those jobs, notably in mining and oil production, tend to be male-dominated and higher-paying, the Wyoming Women’s Foundation found pay gaps still persisted in other jobs that are not necessarily male-dominated. The Casper metropolitan area had the largest gap of all 366 metropolitan areas in terms of pay between men and women. The median income for a man working full-time was $25,222 higher than for a woman working full-time.

2. Alaska

• Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,285
• Female full-time, year-round median income: $41,529 (11th highest)
• Male full-time, year-round median income: $56,814 (fifth highest)
• 2011 unemployment rate: 7.6 percent (22nd lowest)

Alaska’s job market, similar to many other states on the list, has benefited from an oil and gas boom, which tends to pay high wages but is a male-dominated field. Meanwhile, the finance, insurance, real estate and rental properties occupations — fields with a lower pay gap compared to others — comprised a national-low 4 percent of jobs in the state. Including part-time workers, the difference in median income between men and women was higher than any other state, with a $16,474 discrepancy. The National Women's Law Center found that women made up roughly two out of every three minimum wage workers in Alaska. High educational attainment by women did not erase the pay gap. As a whole, Alaskan women with a bachelor’s degree earned less than men with just some college or an associate degree.

3. Louisiana

• Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,130
• Female full-time, year-round median income: $32,633 (ninth lowest)
• Male full-time, year-round median income: $47,763 (20th highest)
• 2011 unemployment rate: 7.3 percent (16th lowest)

More than 8 percent of jobs in Louisiana were in construction, more than any other state, with more than 90 percent of those construction jobs filled by men. Meanwhile, the 10.6 percent of jobs in arts, entertainment, recreation and food services, which generally offer lower pay, were the seventh highest of all states. Women filled more than 55 percent of those jobs. Two Louisiana metropolitan areas were among the 10 areas with the highest wage gap between men and women. Women in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux metro area with full-time, year-round jobs earned $20,315 less than men with similar positions, which is the fourth largest wage gap. Women in Lake Charles earned $18,462 less, the 10th largest gap.

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4. Utah

• Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,094
• Female full-time, year-round median income: $34,052 (13th lowest)
• Male full-time, year-round median income: $49,146 (19th highest)
• 2011 unemployment rate: 6.7 percent (11th lowest)

In 2011, Utah women with full-time, year-round jobs earned $15,094 less than men in those kinds of positions. But if part-time jobs are included, women earned $16,236 less than men in 2011, a higher pay gap than any state but Alaska. Two metropolitan areas in Utah earned a spot among the 20 metro areas with the highest pay gap between men and women. Women in the Provo-Orem metro area with full-time, year-round positions earned $20,446 less than men in 2011, the third highest gap in the country. Meanwhile, women in the Ogden-Clearfield metro area earned $17,587 less than men, the 13th largest gap.

5. Washington

• Difference in full-time, year-round income:$13,979
• Female full-time, year-round median income: $41,817 (ninth highest)
• Male full-time, year-round median income: $55,796 (sixth highest)
• 2011 unemployment rate: 9.2 percent (16th highest)

As of 2011, Washington state had one of the highest proportions of workers in professional, scientific and management positions. Women in those positions earned nearly $22,500 less than men did. In Washington’s Bremerton-Silverdale metropolitan area, women earned $18,650 less than men — the ninth biggest earnings gap among all U.S. metropolitan areas. In the state's professional, scientific and management positions, which account for a high 11.9 percent of all positions in the state, median earning for men exceeded that for women by $22,487. This was nearly $10,000 higher than the national wage gap in this industry.

Click here to read the rest of 24/7 Wall St.'s the worst-paying states for women

What would you value more? Mom cooking dinner for the family, or Dad killing a spider in Junior’s room?

While women are still dealing with the gender wage gap at work, when it comes to the unpaid work moms do at home, their imaginary paychecks would be bigger than those of their husbands.

As Father’s Day approaches this weekend, it’s time to take stock of what dads do for their families beyond just bringing home a paycheck. Alas, the household chores they tend to do aren't worth as much as the sweat equity moms put in at home year round, according to two recent reports.

Insure.com calculated what they deemed to be daddy duties, including things such as barbecuing, killing bugs and mowing the lawn. The study found the domestic tasks would total about $20,248 a year if they were paid work. That compared to $60,182 annually for moms for doing things such as cooking, cleaning and nursing wounds. The value of the work was based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for how much similar jobs out in the real work world would pay.

Another study by Salary.com found that the value of what working dads do at home is actually rising. The company looked at online responses from nearly 3,000 dads who reported on the number of hours they put into tasks at home, including everything from cooking to driving kids around, and found the value of what the dads did jumped to $36,757 this year from $33,858 the previous year. A previous study of work done by working moms found what the moms do at home is valued at $66,979, compared to $63,471 in 2011.

The dads in Salary.com’s sampling were doing more laundry this year, about 1.4 hours, compared to 1.2 hours in 2011; but they cut back on their kitchen time, from 2.7 hours to 2.2 hours.

Women are still the ones doing the heavy lifting at home, said Nancy Folbre, a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts. But she cautioned against giving this type of data on what dads do too much credence.

“They underestimate both what mothers and fathers do,” she noted.

Indeed, Emmet Pierce, a spokesman of Insure.com, said his firm's research was not a scientific study but rather a “lighthearted view of fatherhood. It’s not that every dad conforms to this, but it gives a broad view of what fathers do.”

Dads are doing more around the house, but a shift from that 1950s mentality has been slow.

A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last year found: “On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework — such as cleaning or doing laundry — compared with 49 percent of women. Forty-one percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 68 percent of women.” And a 2008 Gallup poll found that women are much more likely to do most of the household chores, while men are primarily taking care of the family cars and doing yardwork. 

But traditional family roles are being questioned. A report released Monday by Boston College’s Center for Work & Family found that those dads who choose to stay at home with their kids made “a conscious choice and commitment to be home with their children to the benefit of their families, their wives’ careers, and their own personal fulfillment.” And the center reported 3.4 percent of at-home parents are dads today, compared to 1.7 percent 10 years ago.

“Nearly all fathers are increasingly likely to experience active caregiving, and the result will require employers to adapt their thinking and their actions regarding who needs support to do so adequately,” said Brad Harrington, author of the study and executive director of the Center for Work & Family. “This is not simply a women’s issue.”

Folbre believes that gender responsibilities as they relate to household work are being “renegotiated” but there’s still some resistance and inertia when it comes to change. “We still have a really long way to go,” she added.

Here's a rundown on what working dads do at home and the value of their household tasks from Salary.com: