Abstract
Superannuation is becoming an increasingly important source of retirement income. However, women in Australia face a significant barrier in accumulating superannuation entitlements because of their positions in the paid and unpaid workforce. When in paid work, women occupy lower positions, have more career breaks due to care responsibilities and have more part-time and casual employment. Many women, of course, do not work outside the home, and a smaller proportion of women engage in paid employment than do men. Consequently women have lower incomes, less wealth and less generous retirement benefits. Our analysis of the Survey of Employment Arrangements and Superannuation and other Australian Bureau of Statistics data, together with data published by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, reveals that dramatic policy initiatives will be needed to improve women’s access to retirement resources. Such policies do not apply only to superannuation but must address women’s positions in the paid workforce and their care responsibilities.
Highlights
Economic security is central to achieving equity for women
‘Superannuation refers to a long-term savings arrangement which operates primarily to provide income for retirement.’ (ABS 2002a) Since the 1980s, Commonwealth Government retirement policy has privileged individual superannuation over the state funded age pension, which increasingly is seen as a safety net
The points are reinforced in findings of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): As employer superannuation contributions are a proportion of employee earnings, and female employees tend to earn less than male employees, women generally receive smaller employer contributions
Summary
Economic security is central to achieving equity for women. As today’s generations of Australian women age the two main sources of support income on which they will rely are the age pension and the superannuation assets they (and or their partners) accumulate throughout their lives. ‘Superannuation refers to a long-term savings arrangement which operates primarily to provide income for retirement.’ (ABS 2002a) Since the 1980s, Commonwealth Government retirement policy has privileged individual superannuation over the state funded age pension, which increasingly is seen as a safety net. Both the age pension and superannuation are claims on future production. Such claims obviously provide financial security when they fall due upon retirement, but they provide a sense of economic and social security now. As the pension becomes relatively less significant, those who rely on it exclusively or mainly will feel less secure because they will in reality be less secure in the future
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