POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
(December-2004) Women’s low super figures a looming issue
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward has canvassed a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the retirement earnings of women in circumstances where she says so-called “Derby and Joan” retirements are becoming far less common.
Goward told the ASFA Conference in Adelaide that the stark reality facing Australia was that despite the great improvements made with respect to superannuation a substantial gap still exists between men and women.
“The reality is that there are going to be twice as many poor old ladies as poor old men,” she said.
Among the options canvassed by Goward was the possibility of the Federal Government meeting the cost of the superannuation guarantee while women were on maternity leave and the provision of superannuation guarantee payments in the context of the carers payment.
She said these were not proposals to which she was wedded, but were something which needed to be considered in the context of fairness.
Goward said that a starting point for addressing the retirement savings crisis confronting many women could be measures aimed at closing the gender pay gap, particularly in female-dominated occupations.
“We can’t expect to reform women’s savings without reforming the workplace,” she said.
Goward said that women were being penalised for undertaking a caring role with respect to children and, in some cases, the elderly.
She said that while women should be urged to stay in the workforce longer, they should also be rewarded in the latter years of their lives for the time they had devoted to motherhood and caring.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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