According to the survey – which was based on responses from 1,500 Australians – 82 per cent of respondents thought the gap between women’s and men’s superannuation balances was less than the 47 per cent discrepancy reported by ASFA.
In fact, a majority of those respondents (25 per cent) believed that women would only have 20 per cent less super than their male peers.
Commenting on the findings, Sunsuper national head of retail distribution Anne Fuchs said many respondents were also wrong about working women continuing to receive super contributions while on maternity leave.
“Only 13 per cent [correctly stated] that most don’t,” she said.
“Additionally, when respondents were asked whether women should be paid a higher rate of super to close the gap, they were almost equally split between yes and no – although almost double the number of men voted no (63 per cent) in comparison to the number of women (37 per cent).”
Ms Fuchs added there seems to be a “significant disconnect” between the masses of information about super being pushed to women and what Australians understand about how financially adequate they actually are for retirement.
“There is a lot of information about women’s lack of financial preparedness for retirement, but if the statistics from our survey are anything to go by, these messages are being well and truly lost,” she said.
“There appears to be a serious divide between the way the financial services industry insists on framing the discussion around women and super and what needs to happen in terms of generating meaningful conversations that can make real and practical differences to the lives of women in retirement.”
