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.
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