New data provided for Financy’s Women’s Index September 2018 report by AustralianSuper has found the gap in lifetime balances between men and women narrowed to 28 per cent in June, down from 30 per cent over the past 12 months.
“This improvement in the disparity is likely to have been influenced by wages and employment growth among women, but also we are seeing an increasing number of organisations starting to offer enhanced superannuation benefits for women and those on paid and unpaid parental leave,” the report suggested.
“Such measures are likely to be effective in helping to retain women in the workforce and supporting their transition back to work after children.”
However, data from AustralianSuper also found that that of its 2.2 million members, the average woman retiring today would have $93,431 in superannuation retirement savings, compared with $131,045 for the average man.
“Career breaks to have children; particularly from full-time work and the absence of compulsory employer superannuation payments on parental leave at a national level are often cited as key reasons for the gender gap in retirement savings,” the report said.
AMP Financial Planning adviser Di Charman said the recent legislative change allowing people to “carry forward” their unused concessional contribution caps for up to five years was a positive measure for women.
“It will give women the opportunity to top up their super in years where they have more income and will help bridge the retirement gap,” she said.
Ms Charman added that women should also remember that they can make additional after tax contributions to their super and claim them as a tax deduction.
“The key for women is to engage with their super and now is perfect timing with end of financial year statements being issued to fund members,” she said.
There’s also a big ‘hours worked’ gap but I guess we will ignore that.
Female university graduates earn more than men. We need to close this gap. They’ll be no wealth for anyone if all the women forgo childbearing for more money.
Why not look at the overall wealth picture rather than just Super. Sure women might have lower super due to maternity leave etc, but does it matter when looking at a couple’s overall wealth? In Divorce the men may take the bulk of Super, but the women retain the family home – on paper women have less Super, but overall they have the same wealth position as the men. This study seem like a play from Aus Super to get more FUM.
That’s correct, women own more houses than men – mostly due to divorce. This article and the movement it stems from is not about fairness or any type of equality either and it’s certainly not intellectually robust as you have just pointed out.
ha ha funny guy. you must not have seen an actual divorce. women take all and the men is forced to bunk with his mates on their couch
…“carry forward” their unused concessional contribution caps for up to five years was a positive measure for women.” I reckon it’s a positive thing for blokes too.
There’s is also a major discrepancy between the number of people in prison by gender. Men are incarcerated at a rate about 10 times higher (about 40,000 men compared to about 4,000 women in jail in Australia). The sentences for women for comparable crimes are also lighter. This seems very unfair. So shall we fix this “gap” too? Do you not want to be equal on this as well under gender equality?