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Gender interests are crucial in the redistributive equity of the pension system. This paper investigates the gender gap in retirement pension incomes of urban employees in China by using data from the Chinese Household Income Project and decomposes the main factors contributing to the gender gap. We find that the pension income of female employees after retirement is significantly lower than that of male employees. Decomposition reveals that age, pre-retirement wage level, and type of work unit are the main factors contributing to the gender gap. Further, we find that the gender gap in pension incomes is lower for employees employed in the public sector than for those employed in enterprises, because enterprises are more affected by the market environment than the public sector, and female employees tend to suffer more market discrimination. In general, females still face the challenge of having significantly lower pension standards than males after retirement. Plain language summary: Pensions serve as a primary source of economic support for many insured employees after retirement, guaranteeing them a basic standard of living. However, gender inequality in pension income is evident in social life, with the pension income of female employees often lower than that of male employees. This study confirms this phenomenon by examining the gender gap in pension income for urban employees in China. The study finds that age, pre-retirement wage level, and type of work unit are the main factors contributing to the gender gap. In addition, the gender gap in pension income is smaller for public sector employees compared to enterprise employees, due to China's unique market environment, where the pension income of female enterprise employees is more negatively affected by market discrimination. Therefore, policy recommendations are proposed to appropriately extend the statutory retirement age for females, increase the wage level of the female labor force, and allow females to share their husbands' pensions. These recommendations aim to increase the pension incomes of female employees after retirement, thereby averting their risk of elderly poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]