FINANCE
ANDREW PROEBSTL CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEGALSUPER
Let’s close the super gap legalsuper is working to help close the gap for women
ANDREW PROEBSTL is Chief Executive of legalsuper, Australia’s industry super fund for the legal community.
% aproebstl@legalsuper.com.au ! (03) 9602 0101
It’s 2021 and Australia’s gender pay gap is stuck at around 15 per cent; despite laws promoting better gender equality and evolving attitudes, women are still often paid less than men. The super gap is even greater than the pay gap. According to Industry Super Australia, on average, women retire with around half as much super as men. In light of the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day (8 March 2021) being ‘Choose to Challenge’, it is timely to examine the super gap and challenge the factors that contribute to this inequity.
Why do women accumulate less super? Structural and cultural biases and workplace barriers, in addition to the interrelated family, work and social factors, impact women’s ability to earn and accrue super
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for retirement. Some key factors include: Women earn less than men This a significant contributor to the gender super gap. On average, men take home $25,679 a year more than women. There are many contributing factors, including the gender pay gap. This impact compounds over a lifetime. Unpaid work Men are far less likely to take time out of the workforce for unpaid caring responsibilities—95 per cent of primary carer’s leave is taken by mothers; conversely, one in twenty fathers takes such leave. Parenthood aside, women spend 64 per cent of their average working hours each week on unpaid work compared to 36 per cent for men.
