Major Changes for Super, but Women are Still Ms … ing Out

Abstract

Recent major legislative and regulatory changes to superannuation have brought improved equity to Australia's superannuation system, but women are still missing out when it comes to the adequacy of their retirement savings. The reasons are women's continuing marginal attachment to the labour force and their attendant low level of lifetime income in the paid workforce, which translates to low levels of accumulated occupation‐linked superannuation savings. This paper argues that gender‐based disparities in adequacy of superannuation persist, and that the prospects for retirement lifestyles for most older women continue to be dismal.