Aware Super names the five closed doors holding back Australian women in retirement

New modelling by Aware Super has found Australia’s national gender pay gap of 13.0% will equate to a $93,000* deficit in the superannuation balances of women when compared to Australian men at retirement.

Gender pay inequality is one of five significant examples of unconscious bias faced by women in the years before retirement, which in aggregate contribute to a systemic gap in women’s retirement balances.

With women accounting for around two-thirds of Aware Super’s 1.1 million members, the fund is calling for community-wide action to correct for unconscious bias during the education years, during career selection, pay equity in the workplace, gender-blind promotion and development opportunities for employees throughout their careers, and a greater balance in domestic caring responsibilities.

These specific areas are the focus of Aware Super’s inaugural Hold the Door report, published today in support of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Equal Pay Day campaign.

Featuring research, insights and commentary from a variety of employers and unions, Hold the Door outlines the role of unconscious bias in each of the five ‘closed doors’ and includes practical solutions to help government and employers take steps to address the underlying issues.

Aware CEO and WGEA Pay Equity Ambassador Deanne Stewart said Hold the Door would help Australian women, their partners and their employers to understand the gender retirement gap is a direct consequence of the five closed doors experienced by women over the decades of their working lives.

“Equal pay for women and men has been a legal requirement in Australia since 1969. In reality though, as Hold the Door shows us, the persistent gender pay gap – and subsequent gap at retirement, is as much about how we educate our young people, how we help teenagers plan for their future careers, and how we support employees with caring responsibilities, as it is about rates of pay,” said Ms Stewart

“In 2023 we need to recognise that these persistent gaps based on gender aren’t about a silent conspiracy to underpay women so much as an insidious, unconscious bias in the way we build and maintain our education and employment systems.

“Unless we actively take steps to account for these unconscious biases, they are destined to continue, and further entrench the disadvantages experienced by Australian women at work, at home, and in retirement.

“When we call out for action, we’re asking our leaders in business and government to take practical options – holding open a door that was previously closed to girls and women, and making sure we’re tackling unconscious bias through real actions that make a real difference,” said Ms Stewart.

On 8 February 2023 the Albanese Labor Government announced a policy of large employers. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 publicly reporting their gender pay gaps, which will come into effect in 2024.

“While this is a societal challenge, there are actions that can work towards solving for this wicked problem,” said Ms Stewart.

“I’m really proud that within Aware Super, we’ve no gap in pay between women and men in like-for-like roles, and that’s a really vital step on the road to gender pay equity.

“What we’re working hard to achieve is to identify, attract and retain a diverse pool of candidates for some of our most senior roles when we go to market, particularly in fields such as investments, technology, financial advice and finance.

“Naming and owning the problem is the first part of solving that problem, and it’s important to us as an organisation that Australians know we’re absolutely committed to achieving the kind of gender pay equity ourselves that we’re asking the rest of the nation to strive for as well,” said Ms Stewart.

Summary of Hold the Door*

Education

The early years of education are the first step towards creating or closing the systemic problem of the gender pay gap, compounding at time of retirement. Young girls and boys are already forming gendered perceptions of ‘appropriate’ career paths
Along with visibility, access to STEM subjects plays an important role, laying foundations for higher-paying careers post-school. STEM subjects and their greater weighting provide more opportunity to significantly contribute to higher education choices, leading into higher-paying career choices.
Even though three quarters (76%) of the General Teaching Service are women, on average, only half of the positions of leadership classification are occupied by female.

Career Selection

The early years of education, exposure to leadership and STEM subjects as well as already formed gendered perceptions of career paths shape career choices. While there are some improvements, influenced by greater awareness of the societal issue of unconscious bias, the impact this has on the Gender Pay Gap and therefore retirement outcomes of women, must continue to improve.

Gender Pay Gap

The Gender Pay Gap is the gap in average salary that exists between male and female workers in a given sector.
This comes from pay inequality, disproportionate positions of leadership and highly feminised sectors – all of which begin with unconscious bias at the stages of education and career selection.
The gender pay gap in turn influences who in a partnership will take on the primary carer responsibilities.

Caring

Caring responsibilities still fall primarily to women – in fact, 7 in 10 primary carers are women.
This makes a material difference to lifetime income and retirement savings with women’s earnings, as they fall by an average of 55% in the first five years of parenthood, making the impact of lost super savings during this time significant.
The ‘unofficial caring’ that extends on from the first five years – such as caring for a sick child, returns to work part time to keep things running at home, caring for an elderly parent, looking after a disabled sister, that significantly contributes to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality, moving to a hindrance on career progression opportunity.

Missed Opportunities

Missed opportunities are the direct result of all the moments of unconscious bias – the four previously closed doors – in the lead up to the collision between a career path and the family care required for every working woman.
Time out of the workforce and part time work are key drivers of missed opportunities for greater earning potential.

*All calculations included in this summary of the Hold The Door report has been contributed from varying Unions and Aware Super Employer Partners.

What Aware Super is doing to tackle gender pay equity in its own workplace

Aware Super pay up to 32 weeks Super Guarantee contribution on unpaid Parental Leave,
We have gendered recruitment targets
A keen focus on leadership gender equity featuring a female Board Director and female CEO
A strong advocacy platform for our members and our people that constantly strives for progress, if we can’t reach perfection