Australian women face a persistent financial wellbeing gap compared to men, as revealed by ANZ's report titled "Financial Wellbeing: Spotlight on Australian Women." The research indicates that factors such as employment opportunities, household living arrangements, and caring for dependents significantly affect women's financial wellbeing more than men's throughout their lives.
The study highlights that only 35% of women believe they can save enough money for their lifetime, compared to 45% of men. Although both genders attempt to save, 17% of women reported having no savings compared to 10% of men. Women's understanding of financial products' risks, especially long-term investments, is lower than men's across all age groups. This lack of knowledge contributes to reduced confidence in planning their financial future and fewer long-term investment decisions.
The disparity in financial wellbeing starts early in adulthood. Among 18–24-year-olds, 59% of women feel anxious about their future finances compared to 39% of men in the same age group.
Maile Carnegie, ANZ Group Executive for Australia Retail and Executive Sponsor for Financial Wellbeing stated: “ANZ research shows there is an ongoing gap between the financial wellbeing outcomes of men and women in Australia. Concerningly, this disparity starts early in adulthood with a number of factors influencing women's financial wellbeing at different life stages.”
“We hope that sharing these insights will contribute to understanding what is impacting women's financial wellbeing, and highlight where we all have a role to play in creating an environment that supports everyone to build financial confidence and long-term financial wellbeing."
Key findings from the research include:
- Australian women scored 62/100 on the financial wellbeing scale versus men's score of 66/100.
- Household living arrangements impact women's scores significantly: living with a spouse without children scores 71/100; with children scores 61/100; single parents score 42/100; living alone scores 65/100.
- Mental health issues were reported by 30% of Australian women versus 25% of men. Among those aged 18–24 years old, the figures are more stark with fair or poor mental health reported by 55% of young women compared to 32% of young men.
- Part-time work was more common among women (22%) than men (9%), while full-time work was less common among women (28%) than men (46%).
The report also notes income sources for those aged over 65. Women equally rely on government benefits or superannuation/self-funded retirement income (44% vs. 43%). In contrast, men are twice as likely to rely on superannuation/self-funding (53%) over government benefits (27%).
The report draws data from ANZ’s Financial Wellbeing Survey conducted in mid-2021 involving over 3,500 Australian adults.