The Super Gap No One Talks About

Australia’s super guarantee was designed for a lifelong career: 11.5% of your wages every year for ever. That seems fine enough for most of us. For women, it does not. Women are still more likely to take breaks from work, have a less than full-time job, or spend years raising a family and caring for others. That’s not being accounted for when we are calculating how much super we have accumulated.

When women and men are in their early sixties, the median amount in super for men is $219,773. The median amount in super for women is $163,218. That $56,555 difference can’t be attributed to poor decisions on women’s part. It is simply what happens when a savings system designed for a 30 or 40-year full-time working life meets women’s real-world lives.

Nationally, men average $192,119 of super compared to women’s average of $154,641; $37,478, for men over women. The median figures are lower but indicate the same trends; use the buttons above to toggle between the two measures.

Between 25-29, super balances of men and women are roughly equivalent ($19,220 compared to $19,162). The lines then begin to separate slightly and increase through the thirties where the difference is noticeable, but still contained. By the fifties career breaks and part-time working hours have taken their toll and the dollar difference is at its highest, $61,921 between 55-59 years. Roll over any point to discover precise balances and the difference at any age.

In actual dollars it’s greatest for ages 55-59. But relative to the man’s balance, it’s actually greater ten years sooner. By age 50-54, women’s median super balance is 31.1% lower than the man’s. This is where years of lower contributions and lost years in the workforce have accumulated the most, and there is insufficient working life remaining to recover this loss. Flip between dollar amount and percentage of men’s balance using the buttons above; the darker bar highlights the greatest gap in each.

But the disparity also differs somewhat among states. The biggest median difference was from WA ($24,444), and partly due to the existence of mining and resources sector with high proportion of full-time men with high incomes. The ACT has the smallest median difference ($5,671), this may be due to relatively high percentage of female workers and higher degree of flexibility in the public sector. Try switching between the median and average modes, by clicking the buttons, to experience the shifts of the state rank order.

According to ASFA, you’ll need $630,000 by the age of 67 to enjoy a single retirement. The average man between the ages of 60 and 64 has $219,773 saved. In comparison, the median woman in that same age range has only $163,218 saved. That’s a long way to go, and women have an average deficit $56,555 higher than that of men ($466,782 women vs. $410,227 men). Switch between the single and couple targets with the buttons below.

This isn’t an issue that will solve itself. ‘Payday super’ starting July 1, 2026 is a real positive; paying super each time you are paid rather than each quarter reduces chances of employers default and increases the compounding over time. It doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of lower pay rates and lower paid hours as the work women do (caring) is invisible to the system. We won’t have equal super until parental leave and part-time work is regarded like a full-time career and then this divide will just continue to grow.