Studies have showed that on average women have retired from the workforce with half the superannuation as men. This poses a seriously problem for women in todayâs society living well into their 80âs and 90âs. In todayâs culture with earlier retirement and divorce, women are finding that they cannot rely on their significant other to support them in retirement as they once did in the past.
The main reasons for this issue are:
⢠The interruptions to their working life caused by childbearing, raising of children and also taking care of the elderly such as their parents.
⢠Women when working full time make on average about 89% of male full time earnings.
⢠Women tend to work in lower paid and lower rank positions.
⢠Women tend to work in part time positions. 45% of females in the workforce worked part time. In contrast only 14% of males were working part time. Therefore on average women worked only 28 hours a week compared to 39 hours a week for men.
All these factors combined results in on average women working for only 20 years (full time equivalent) compared to 38 years for men. To overcome this problem there needs to be greater education on the subject which needs to be taught in early life to make aware of the difficulties that women may face in retirement. It should include how to make the best of the tools and aid provided by the government ranging from co-contributions, salary sacrificing tax breaks to claiming lost superannuation.
Please feel free to comment.
N.B. all figures are Australian statistics.
Aalok Galappatti
The main reasons for this issue are:
⢠The interruptions to their working life caused by childbearing, raising of children and also taking care of the elderly such as their parents.
⢠Women when working full time make on average about 89% of male full time earnings.
⢠Women tend to work in lower paid and lower rank positions.
⢠Women tend to work in part time positions. 45% of females in the workforce worked part time. In contrast only 14% of males were working part time. Therefore on average women worked only 28 hours a week compared to 39 hours a week for men.
All these factors combined results in on average women working for only 20 years (full time equivalent) compared to 38 years for men. To overcome this problem there needs to be greater education on the subject which needs to be taught in early life to make aware of the difficulties that women may face in retirement. It should include how to make the best of the tools and aid provided by the government ranging from co-contributions, salary sacrificing tax breaks to claiming lost superannuation.
Please feel free to comment.
N.B. all figures are Australian statistics.
Aalok Galappatti