International Women's Day has arrived for 2023. As we look back on the road to gender equality over the past year, there is certainly plenty to discuss on all sides of the spectrum.
Using data from our Consumer Sentiment Tracker, a nationally representative survey of 1,000 Australians each month, we'll take a look at areas where we are making progress towards closing the gender gap as well as those where disparities between men and women are still apparent – or even widening.
Snapshot: Gender-based personal finance differences in Australia
The savings gap grows as the cost of living crisis disproportionately impacts women
At a headline level, our data shows the gender savings gap is growing with the average male savings balance being more than double the average female savings account balance for the first time in 3 years of doing this research.
There is also evidence to suggest that the recent cost of living crunch combined with lower savings balances is having a disproportionate effect on women's finances. The tables below show 2 separate comparisons based on data from Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker.
The data looks at how long Australians believe they could live off their savings if they lost their job tomorrow. For the purpose of this research, we looked at changes year-on-year between those who are most comfortable and those who are least comfortable living off their savings.
Although incremental, men saw a positive change in this area. Comparing February 2022 and February 2023, the proportion of men who believed they could only live off their savings for less than a week dropped 2 percentage points from 10% to 8%. This shift was opposite for women with slightly more (20%) in 2023 feeling that their savings would last less than a week compared to 2022 (19%).
Could live off savings for less than a week
Although incremental, men saw a positive change in this area. Comparing February 2022 and February 2023, the proportion of men who believed they could only live off their savings for less than a week dropped 2 percentage points from 10% to 8%. This shift was opposite for women with slightly more (20%) in 2023 feeling that their savings would last less than a week compared to 2022 (19%).
Could live off savings for more than a year
On the opposite end of the spectrum – those who could live off their savings for more than a year – men also saw a positive increase compared to 2022. When looking at those who believed their savings would last them for more than 12 months, 20% of men felt this way – an increase of 4 percentage points compared to February 2022. Again, the change was the opposite for women and this time more dramatic. Fewer women in 2023 believed they could live off their salary for more than a year – 14% in February 2022 compared to 9% in February 2023.
The gender debt gap shows signs of closing
When it comes to debt, there are signs that the gender gap may be beginning to close. According to Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker, the average male and female credit card balance is close to parity with the average male credit card user having a balance of $1,615 and the average female credit card user having a balance of $1,684*. This leaves a gap of 4% which is a much smaller gap than the 16% gap we identified last year.
It's a similar but less dramatic reduction in the gender gap for Buy Now, Pay Later debt where the gap has closed 15 percentage points from 33% to 18%. Interestingly, a higher proportion of women are using Buy Now, Pay Later products compared to men whilst the opposite is true for credit cards that men are more likely to use.
Parental pressures: The role of parenthood in wealth generation
The move away from traditional gender roles has been an important shift in the move towards gender equality. We're seeing employers facilitate more opportunity for women in the workforce through gender-neutral parental leave policies, flexible working hours and the growing trend of remote work.
This is even being reflected in government with the Senate passing the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Bill 2022 which aims to support women's workforce participation and help more dads and partners to take time off work to be with their children.
Even with the progress in these areas, Finder research shows that both men and women are feeling the pinch of parenthood. Data from Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker in February 2023 found that the vast majority of Aussies (70%) believe an extension of free childcare would significantly reduce financial stress for families with young children. This belief is held by significantly more women (78%) than men (63%).
Similarly, Finder's Parenting Report 2023 found that the majority of parents are in support of a universal childcare system (78%) – with 80% of mothers in support, compared to 77% of fathers.
Sarah Berthon is a CSR & public affairs specialist at Finder. She has a Master of Commerce (Marketing) from the University of New South Wales and Bachelor of Commerce with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Macquarie University. Sarah's goal is to educate everyone on how to improve their personal finances. In her spare time, you can find Sarah searching for Sydney's best burger.
How likely would you be to recommend finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Important information about this website
finder.com.au is one of Australia's leading comparison websites. We are committed to our readers and stands by our editorial principles
We try to take an open and transparent approach and provide a broad-based comparison service. However, you should be aware that while we are an independently owned service, our comparison service does not include all providers or all products available in the market.
Some product issuers may provide products or offer services through multiple brands, associated companies or different labeling arrangements. This can make it difficult for consumers to compare alternatives or identify the companies behind the products. However, we aim to provide information to enable consumers to understand these issues.
We make money by featuring products on our site. Compensation received from the providers featured on our site can influence which products we write about as well as where and how products appear on our page, but the order or placement of these products does not influence our assessment or opinions of them, nor is it an endorsement or recommendation for them.
Products marked as 'Top Pick', 'Promoted' or 'Advertisement' are prominently displayed either as a result of a commercial advertising arrangement or to highlight a particular product, provider or feature. Finder may receive remuneration from the Provider if you click on the related link, purchase or enquire about the product. Finder's decision to show a 'promoted' product is neither a recommendation that the product is appropriate for you nor an indication that the product is the best in its category. We encourage you to use the tools and information we provide to compare your options.
Where our site links to particular products or displays 'Go to site' buttons, we may receive a commission, referral fee or payment when you click on those buttons or apply for a product. You can learn more about how we make money.
When products are grouped in a table or list, the order in which they are initially sorted may be influenced by a range of factors including price, fees and discounts; commercial partnerships; product features; and brand popularity. We provide tools so you can sort and filter these lists to highlight features that matter to you.
Please read our website terms of use and privacy policy for more information about our services and our approach to privacy.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
