The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) are both aiming to use the upcoming International Women’s Day as an opportunity to close the gender gap in superannuation.
AIST president and chair of Women in Super, Cate Wood called for immediate policy changes, such as removing the $450 monthly income threshold for exemptions on compulsory super contributions and a super component linked to weekly earnings to the government-funded parental leave scheme.
The government should also implement a return-to-work super bonus for women who have spent time out to raise children, and a permanent increase to the over-50s concessional contributions cap to $50,000 for those with a super balance below $500,000 to accommodate ‘catch-up’ contributions.
These measures would particularly benefit women who had experienced broken periods of employment, or experienced long periods of lower pay, she said.
“Despite more than 20 years of compulsory superannuation, we still haven’t come up with the right policies to narrow the gender gap in superannuation,” Ms Wood said, although she was supportive of the government’s recently introduced Low Income Super Contribution Scheme.
Meanwhile, ASFA is calling for employers to give women an hour out of their working day on International Women’s Day (Friday 8 March) to help them take control of their superannuation.
“Still nearly 90 per cent of Australian women have insufficient super to support a comfortable retirement,” said ASFA chief executive Pauline Vamos.
“For many women, finding the time to take control of their super is a real struggle. By giving women this time on International Women’s Day, we are taking an important first step in helping women to close the superannuation gender gap and take control of their super,” she said.
ASFA recommended women take control of their super by rolling their super accounts into a single account and taking a more active interest in their super – including logging on to check their balance and insurance arrangements, and making voluntary contributions.
