New research released on International Women’s Day reveals Australian women earn $1.01m less over their working lives than men, based on median income data.

Women earn $136,000 less in superannuation over their working lives than men, based on median income data. Women earning the median wage will accumulate approximately $393,676 in super, $151,000 below what is considered a ‘comfortable retirement’. The average super balance in Australia in 2023 is $150k.

Experts say if the gender pay gap was eliminated women would be $3 billion per week better off.

Despite the gender pay gap narrowing slowly, based on data from the past decade it will only be eradicated by the year 2053 when more than 60% of the current workforce will be retired.

Key Points:

• Australian women on a median income will earn $1.01m less over their working lives on average than their male counterparts.
• Australian women on a median income will earn $136,000 less in superannuation over their working lives than their male counterparts.
  • Women earning the median wage will accumulate approximately $393,676 in super, $151,000 below what is considered a ‘comfortable retirement.
  • The average super balance in Australia in 2023 is $150k.
• Experts say if the gender pay gap was eliminated women would be $3 billion per week better off.
• The gender pay gap is narrowing so slowly that it will not fully close for another 30 years until 2053. At that stage 60% of people currently working will have retired.
• The Gender wage gap in Australia (15.3%) is more than double what it is in New Zealand (6.7%)
• The gender gap occurs across all occupations and industries:
  • Men have higher average salaries than women in 95% of all occupations, including those where women dominate the workforce. For example, women account for 99% of all midwives, and yet are paid on average 19% less.
    • 80 occupations in which men make up 80% or more of the workforce have an average salary above $100,000.
    • By contrast zero occupations in which women make up 80% or more of the workforce have an average salary above $100,000.

“For the average woman in Australia, the gender pay gap will be more than $1.01m over her working life, based on conservative estimates,” said Senior Economist Eliza Littleton from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work.

“There’s been a noisy political debate about super in Australia for the past week, but this data shows that based on median income data Australian women will earn $136,000 less than their male counter parts over their working life. When you consider that the average super balance in Australia right now is approximately $150,000, that’s a huge disparity.

“Australian women continue to be paid less than men on average across all industries and occupations, costing us more than $3b across the economy each week.

“We know that older women are one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to poverty and homelessness in Australia.

“Australian women shouldn’t have to wait until the year 2053 for substantive equality. We deserve equity today and our research makes several sensible policy recommendations for the Labor Government to action.”

Policy recommendations:

• Greater access to free or more affordable earlier childhood education & care: Australia Institute research shows if Australia had the same labour force participation rates as Nordic countries do, then the economy would be $60 billion, or 3.2% of GDP, larger (Grudnoff and Denniss, 2020).
• More paid parental leave for both parents: Australia’s PPL scheme is well behind international standards. The OECD average PPL scheme is 60 weeks in total, with 24.6 weeks reserved for mothers, 10.4 weeks for fathers and 25.4 weeks that can be flexibly distributed (OECD, 2022). With a 20-week scheme, Australia unsurprisingly ranks low – 30th out of 38 countries for the duration of paid leave entitlements. Extending leave entitlements and encouraging a more even distribution of childcare would help reduce the career and financial penalty of having children both for all parents, but especially women. Additionally, making it mandatory for superannuation to be paid while a person is taking paid parental leave would help to reduce the gendered super gap.
• Greater family-friendly work practices: Some workplaces and workers have managed to maintain flexible working arrangements, but this should be standardised, expanded and embedded in employment relations frameworks to make balancing work and care more achievable across the workforce. Breaking down rigid job design in male-dominated jobs could also help with reducing entrenched gendered segregation by industry and occupation.
• Deliberate policy to lift the wages for industries dominated by women — most urgently in the care sector: Women dominated sectors, especially in the care industry are among the lowest paid work. The 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended that gig work, independent contracting and other ‘indirect’ employment arrangements be restricted in the publicly-funded aged care sector. This needs to be agreed to.
• Address insecure work: Further reforms should include rights to family-friendly working time arrangements and stable work as minimum standards for all employees in the National Employment Standards.
• Full recommendations in attached report