Aim for the next level

International Women’s Day is on March 8. To mark the occasion, we put women’s super in the spotlight

- JULIA NEWBOULD

The statistic is all too familiar: women retire with 20% less in their superannuation than men. On retirement, the average super balance for a man is $154,543 and for a woman, it is $122,848. When you factor in the longer life expectancy of women, this statistic has an even greater consequence.

International Women’s Day is the perfect time to revisit the issue of women’s super and how it can be tackled.

A big part of the problem is the gender pay gap, combined with broken work patterns and part-time work. It means there is a necessity for women to contribute more than the legislated compulsory 9.25% of their pay.

The most recent statistics show men still take home $25,679 more than women on average each year. All industries reportedly have a gender pay gap in favor of men, and the financial and insurance industry boasts the highest gap at 29.3%, followed by rental, hiring and real estate at 26.9%.

However, despite the disparities, there is some good news: women’s super has grown. According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, the latest figures show the average super balances of men and women are $146,420 and $115,350 respectively – and females held around 41.9% of the total number of balances.

Smart way to shop

Fortunately, there are people who have acknowledged the gender inequality and are working to help redress the balance.

Pascale Helyar-Moray and Emily Hollingum, have launched the Super Rewards platform to help women contribute more into their super every time they shop online with a participating retailer. Helyar-Moray, chief executive, and Hollingum, chief operating officer, have decades of financial services experience between them.