Women retiring with substantially less super than men

Women are wrapping up their working lives with substantially less super than men. See how much worse off they are in retirement.

Victorian women are typically retiring with $66,200 less superannuation than men, prompting calls for the government to act to fix the inequity at the May budget.

Industry Super Australia analysis found the median super balance for a Victorian woman in her early 60s was $163,200, lagging well behind the male median of $229,400.

Male workers aged 20-24 have on average 7 per cent more in their accounts, with the gap increasing to 32 per cent in their early 40s. Industry Super Australia wants the government to do more to address the imbalance, including introducing paying super when workers are on paid parental leave.

Industry Super Advocacy head Georgia Brumby said more needed to be done to bridge the gap and called on federal Superannuation ­Minister Jane Hume to fight for women in the upcoming ­budget and when considering the legislated super increase.

“It’s not right that Victorian women retire with balances persistently lower than what they need for an adequate retirement,” she said.

Senator Hume pointed to the Retirement Income Review that found the working-life gender pay gap was the “main driver” in the super difference.

Victorian women are typically retiring with $66,200 less superannuation than men.

“Tipping ever-increasing amounts of your hard-earned money into super is not the answer; deferring more of your wages today comes at a trade-off to your standard of living in your working life,” she said.

“Increasing female participation in the workforce is key to enhancing women’s economic security.

“On super, our immediate focus is on making your super work harder for you – improving performance and lowering fees. It’s your money.”

She said the super rise was still scheduled to take place in July this year but any decisions related to the rate change would “be made in light of all the evidence and in the economic circumstances of the time”.

With much of the focus on what the May budget delivers for women, the Business Council of Australia is also calling for childcare subsidies to be boosted and for changes to paid parental leave.

The BCA is proposing families be allowed to choose how they divide 20 weeks of paid parental leave, which it says would keep more women working and grow the economy by $5bn.

The BCA wants to see the childcare subsidy rate boosted by 10 per cent to 95 per cent for lower-income households, tapering down the more a family earns.

BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the current systems were acting as a “barrier” to women wanting to return to work and they “don’t work for modern families”.