Natalie Previtera

Australia’s progress toward financial gender equality has reached a new high, with the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX) hitting 79.44 points in the September quarter.

The result, up from 79.32 points in June, was primarily driven by a sharp improvement in female underemployment and a narrowing of the gender gap in lifetime superannuation savings.

Key points

• Record high: The Financy Women’s Index (FWX) rose 0.12 points to a fresh high of 79.44 points out of 100 in the September quarter.
• Superannuation gender gap narrows: The Superannuation sub-index was a standout performer, gaining 0.6 points. The estimated timeframe to  achieve gender equality in superannuation has dropped significantly to 13.9 years (down from 17 years).
• Headwinds: Despite the record result, a crisis of confidence in the childcare sector and stalling board diversity suggest the victory is “fragile,” with early signs of women stepping back from full-time work.
• Boards stalled: Progress on ASX 200 Boards has flatlined. The sub-index remained stalled at 38.1%, marking a second consecutive quarter of zero growth and signalling “gender diversity complacency” at the top.
• Call to reform: The report calls for structural reforms to lock in these gains, including urgent action on childcare quality and investor pressure on stagnant boards.

The Underemployment sub-index delivered the quarter’s strongest performance, rising 0.8 points to 75.3 points. This shift suggests an easing of financial pressures on the homefront and that more women are securing their desired working hours, with the female underemployment rate falling 1.5 percentage points.

Superannuation gap closing

The outlook for women’s long-term financial security also brightened. The Superannuation sub-index rose 0.6 points to 79.2 points, aided by a revised dataset from the ATO and improved female wage growth.

Consequently, the estimated timeframe to close the gender gap in superannuation savings has fallen to 13.9 years, down from 17 years previously. It is now the second-shortest timeframe to equality of any index after ASX 200 Boards at 4.7 years. The median timeframe to economic equality is 21.2 years.

Natalie Previtera, CEO of NGS Super, celebrated the momentum but emphasised that these gains must be structurally protected rather than relied upon by women acting as the economy’s “shock absorbers.”

“While our progress is real and the momentum is visible, the opportunity now is to design an economy where resilience is structural, not gendered. Equality should not be something women must absorb their way into, but something Australia builds into its foundations.”

“The lesson from this quarter’s FWX is not that women are faltering. It is that women have carried the burden of resilience long enough and that, with intentional investment, the burden itself can finally lessen.

While the FWX headline numbers are positive, the report warns of “fragile progress.”

Beneath the record high, there are signs of a compositional shift in the workforce. Women’s full-time employment fell slightly (0.1%) in the quarter, as part-time employment rose, and participation rates retreated from recent highs, coinciding with a drop in childcare usage.

Rhiannon Yetsenga, Associate Director at Deloitte Access Economics and FWX Advisory Committee member, noted that trust in the childcare sector, which is grappling with abuse cases, is essential to maintaining workforce participation.

“When families can’t trust the childcare system, women step back from work and men stay out of the care workforce – reinforcing the idea that caregiving is ‘women’s work’,” said Yetsenga.

“Breaking that cycle starts with affordable, high-quality childcare, unlocking more equal participation and a more balanced gender workforce over time.”

Leonora Risse, Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Canberra, added that the decision to step back often carries an invisible cost.

“The current childcare crisis goes to the heart of women’s decisions to participate in the paid workforce in the sense that it’s most commonly women, not men, who get pulled out of the workforce when childcare is constrained or their family needs them,” said Dr Risse.

“Even if the numbers suggest that some women are pulling out of the workforce, what they don’t show is the extra emotional and mental strain, as well as the potential guilt, that many parents who are still in the workforce might be going through,” said Dr Risse.

Board diversity stalls

!n contrast to the gains in employment and superannuation, corporate leadership progress has flatlined. The ASX 200 Boards sub-index recorded zero growth for the second consecutive quarter, remaining at 38.1%.

With the timeframe to board equality stagnating at 4.7 years, Financy is calling on institutional investors to vote against the re-election of directors at ASX 200 companies that have missed the 40:40:20 standard for three consecutive periods.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, Founder of Financy, stated: “This record high is reflective of fragile progress. While we celebrate the gains in superannuation and hours worked, the cracks appearing in childcare confidence and the stagnation in board diversity serve as a stark reminder that our progress is not yet cemented in strong foundations.”

Key September Quarter Statistics:

• FWX Score: 79.44 points (Fresh High).
• Superannuation: +0.6 points (Gap closing).
• Underemployment: +0.8 points (Primary driver of growth).
• Employment: +0.1 points (Slight improvement).
• ASX 200 Boards: 38.1% (Stalled/Zero Growth).
• Gender Pay Gap: 11.5% (Record low national gap).

Timeframes to Equality:

• ASX 200 Boards: 4.7 years
• Superannuation: 13.9 years (Improved from 17)
• Underemployment: 20.9 years
• Gender Pay Gap: 21.2 years
• Employment: 24.9 years
• Unpaid Work: 42.4 years
• Education: 348.6 years

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Australia has accelerated progress in gender financial equality in the June quarter, driven by a record-low gender pay gap and strong employment conditions for women, according to the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX). 

The FWX rose by 0.9% to 78.67 points in the June quarter. The improvement was fuelled by a narrowing of the national gender pay gap to an all-time low of 11.5% and robust growth in female employment, where women’s monthly hours worked grew at five times the pace of men’s (1% vs 0.2%). However, the gains were tempered by a stall in female appointments to ASX 200 boards.

Crucially, the new report moves beyond tracking the problem to modelling the solutions. It details two existing superannuation strategies that demonstrate how some individuals can significantly close their personal lifetime super gap. The report also makes a strong case for incentivising the appeal of these strategies to combat cost of living pressures via systemic tax and superannuation reform to reward caregiving.

“The June quarter results are a story of two steps forward, one step back,” said Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, CEO of Financy. “While we have seen fantastic momentum in closing the gender pay gap to a record low, the stall in board appointments is a red flag. It shows that progress isn’t guaranteed, and complacency is a real danger.

“While we celebrate the record-low pay gap, it’s a point-in-time measure. The real challenge is the accumulated lifetime retirement savings gap that women face, particularly after taking career breaks for care. Our report models practical superannuation strategies, like early contributions and super splitting, that can help women close the super gender gap.

“But individual effort isn’t enough. We are calling for systemic tax reform to properly reward unpaid care, and for gender equality to be considered as part of economic strategy to boost national productivity.”

To provide an actionable roadmap, the June report models two superannuation strategies:

• Early savings: The first model shows that a woman who starts her career on a lower salary than her partner can virtually eliminate the final retirement superannuation gap by contributing an extra 5% to her fund in the first decade of her career.
• Super splitting: The second model shows that by combining the early savings strategy with ‘superannuation splitting’ – where a partner splits 85% of their super contributions with her for five years during her career break for care – she can completely close and even reverse the superannuation gap by retirement.

The report’s “Wish List” advocates for tax reforms that reward care, including tax credits for additional super contributions for those in female-dominated industries and tax incentives for spousal super contributions for primary caregivers.

Overall, the Financy Women’s Index reported gains across key economic indicators

The FWX Employment sub-index rose to 74.5 points, reflecting a significant increase in hours worked for women. Female monthly hours worked grew by a robust 1.0%, five times the pace of male employment growth (0.2%).

The gender gap in underemployment also narrowed substantially, as the female underemployment rate fell while the male rate rose. This helped the FWX Underemployment sub-index jump to 74.1 points from 69.4 points in March.

Further bolstering the result was a welcome improvement in the gender pay gap, which narrowed to a record low of 11.5% from 11.9%. The positive momentum reflects the ongoing effects of increases to the minimum wage, which disproportionately benefit female-dominated sectors. Consequently, the timeframe to close the gender pay gap has improved to 21.5 years.

In a concerning development, progress on corporate boards stalled. The number of women on ASX 200 boards dipped to 38.1% in the June quarter, down from a record 38.4% in March. The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) has noted a “plateauing of progress” among top companies that have reached the 40:40:20 gender diversity target. 

Despite the dip, gender equality on ASX 200 boards remains the most achievable goal, with a projected timeframe of 4.8 years.

Bradley Distinguished Professor at UniSA’s Centre for Workplace Excellence, Carol Kulik, said the Financy Women’s Index demonstrates that gender inequality is a multi-faceted problem, with myriad indicators.

“If we don’t address gender leadership gaps alongside gender pay gaps, the progress we see in narrowing the national gender pay gap may be short-lived. In particular, research demonstrates that gender diverse boards trickle down to generate more gender diversity in senior management – and in turn gender diversity in senior management is associated with smaller gender pay gaps.”

The most significant barriers remain in areas shaped by deep societal norms. The timeframe to equality in Unpaid Work remains stubbornly high at 42.4 years. The greatest challenge is in Education, where, based on expected career earnings relative to qualifications, equality is a staggering 348.6 years away.

A Wish list for economic reform and productivity

To build on the current momentum and tackle structural barriers, the Financy Women’s Index has issued a wish list for economic reform aimed at unleashing productivity:

• Universal childcare and modernised school hours: Invest in quality, universal childcare and better align school hours with modern work schedules to remove significant barriers for working parents.
• Make gender-balanced flexible work the standard: Promote and incentivise flexible work arrangements for all genders to help dismantle social norms that anchor women to unpaid care, part-time work and a geographical spatial leash.
• Apply a gender lens to all economic policy: Integrate a gender perspective into all economic discussions, from productivity to tax reform, to better utilise women’s skills and educational attainment.
• Reform tax and superannuation to reward care: Implement targeted reforms to tax and superannuation, such as super boosts for those in female-dominated industries and incentives for spousal contributions, to help close the lifetime earnings gap.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Today is Equal Pay Day, which marks the 50 additional days women must work each year to earn the same as men, new data reveals Australia is on a 21.5-year countdown to closing the gender pay gap.

preview of the upcoming Financy Women’s Index (FWX) report shows the timeline to pay equity has improved slightly from 21.7 years in the previous quarter, as the national gender pay gap, based on ABS full-time average weekly earnings, fell to 11.5 per cent.

Over the longer term, there has been substantial progress – since the Financy Women’s Index started measuring timeframes to gender financial equality in 2017, the number of years to equality in the Gender Pay Gap has dropped by 43 per cent from 37.5 years.

However, the full Financy Women’s Index report, set for release in the first week of September, will highlight that the 21.5-year figure is only the median timeframe for achieving overall gender financial equality in Australia.

“Equal Pay Day is a stark reminder of the economic reality for women, and our 21.5-year timeframe quantifies the long road ahead,” said Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, author and founder of the Financy Women’s Index.

“While it’s positive to see the number come down over the long term, it represents the median point in a much more complex journey.

“The fact that women have to work an extra 50 days into the new financial year just to catch up to men’s earnings is unacceptable, and our full report in September will explore the structural barriers holding us back despite record female workforce participation.”

“We have made great progress towards equal pay for women, but we still have a long way to go and Equal Pay Day serves as a reminder of this,” said Dr Shane Oliver, chief economist AMP.

The preview data from the Financy Women’s Indext highlights a “two-speed economy” for pay equity. Industries showing the most significant improvement include Retail Trade (5.7 per cent gap), Transport, Postal and Warehousing (7.0 per cent gap), and Manufacturing (9.2 per cent gap).

However this progress is undermined by an alarming backslide in other key sectors. The Financial and Insurance Services sector saw its gap widen by 2.6 percentage points to 21.0 per cent, while the Health Care and Social Assistance sector still has the largest gap at 23.0 per cent.

“The deterioration in Financial and Insurance Services is a major handbrake on our national progress,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

“It’s this poor performance in key sectors that ensures Equal Pay Day remains a frustrating fixture on our calendar. The full Financy Women’s Index will connect these dots, showing how these laggard industries impact the broader journey to financial equality for Australian women.”

The complete Financy Women’s Index report will provide analysis of all seven indicators of economic equality, including employment, leadership, superannuation, and unpaid work, offering the most holistic view of women’s financial progress in Australia.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Australia’s path to gender financial equality is experiencing significant challenges, as highlighted by the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX).

Progress to gender financial equality in Australia has taken another backwards step with the FWX showing that women are a long way from parity with the combination of key indicators suffering their worst start to a calendar year since 2022.

Declines in the FWX Employment and Underemployment sub-indexes have been driven by weaker economic conditions that have disproportionately affected women.  The September quarter saw female monthly hours worked increase by only 0.8 per cent, compared to 1.3 per cent for men.

Dr. Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP, noted: “The September quarter Financy Women’s Index highlights increasing evidence that females are seeing more sensitivity to swings in economic activity than men, possibly reflecting their part-time status in discretionary services sectors. This is a big turnaround from times past when it was men in manufacturing and construction who were most vulnerable. The key is to enable more women to work full-time and in more diverse parts of the economy, so they are not as vulnerable to the vagaries of the economic cycle.”

“Over the past decade, when gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been stronger, we have seen improved employment growth for both men and women,” said Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, CEO of Financy.

“This has also been correlated with progress in economic equality, as measured by the FWX.

“But whenever GDP has weakened, we have tended to see female employment behave more volatile than male and this has recently led to declines in the FWX. It’s also important to note that FWX has been relatively flat since 2020.”

Victoria’s Minister for Women and Jobs, Natalie Hutchins, said: “Interest rates, unstable political environments in countries like the United States, and global wars are increasing the cost of living, with women often paying the price.”

The Index shows Australia’s path to gender equality in the workforce faces significant hurdles, with a 26.8-year wait for equality in Employment and a 20.6-year wait in Underemployment. The best case scenario for equality is 5.1 years via ASX 200 Board Leadership, followed by a 17.7 year wait in Superannuation savings. The wait for pay parity, and indeed the median overall timeframe for gender equality to be achieved, is 22.1 years – a generation away.

“News of Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency has come as a shock to many with fears that it will lead to a setback in progress on gender equity and more broadly in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Dr Oliver.

“While Americans who switched sides were motivated by ‘cost of living’ concerns rather than rejecting progress on issues like gender equity, it does run the risk that gender equity will be less of a focus for the next few years in the US. We need to guard against this happening in Australia as well, to the extent that US trends often show up in Australia with a lag. The good news is that through the last Trump administration, the FWX continued to trend up.”

“Whilst we have seen female wages grow slightly faster than male wages, and this helped deliver a record breaking improvement in the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index, the fact that women still earn 11.5 per cent on average less than men, makes it all the more difficult to keep up with ongoing cost of living pressures, particularly those that relate to housing, groceries and utilities,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

“Compounding this is the fact that women tend to occupy the most insecure forms of employment, such as part-time and casual roles, as these are often the job types that businesses pull back on when conditions get more difficult,” she said.

“The FWX report underscores the need for policymakers and businesses to prioritize gender equality, even amid economic challenges.

“Encouraging greater flexibility in full-time work and ensuring women’s jobs are not disproportionately affected by economic pressures are crucial steps forward,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

Natalie Previtera CEO of NGS Super added: “The cost-of-living crisis is a stark reminder of the importance of financial independence for women. As leaders, employers, and policymakers, we all have a role to play in creating workplaces where women can thrive, even in the face of economic challenges. By prioritising equity and inclusion, we can build a stronger, fairer Australia for everyone”.

The Financy Women’s Index TM (FWX) is a quarterly measurement of the economic progress of women and timeframes to gender equality in Australia. The FWX is produced by Financy, which is a data insights and tech company that provides the IMPACTER Diversity and Inclusion platform. The Women’s Index is supported by an Advisory Committee which includes Dr Shane Oliver, Simone Cheung, Roger Wilkins, Leonora Risse, Bruce Hockman, Rhiannon Yetsenga and Nicki Hutley. The Index is proudly sponsored by NGS Super, the Ecstra Foundation, Aspire Planning, Seven Consulting, HeirWealth and PritchittBland Communications.

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Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Australia’s path to gender financial equality is experiencing significant challenges, as highlighted by the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX).

Progress to gender financial equality in Australia has taken another backwards step with the FWX showing that women are a long way from parity with the combination of key indicators suffering their worst start to a calendar year since 2022.

Declines in the FWX Employment and Underemployment sub-indexes have been driven by weaker economic conditions that have disproportionately affected women.  The September quarter saw female monthly hours worked increase by only 0.8 per cent, compared to 1.3 per cent for men.

Dr. Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP, noted: “The September quarter Financy Women’s Index highlights increasing evidence that females are seeing more sensitivity to swings in economic activity than men, possibly reflecting their part-time status in discretionary services sectors. This is a big turnaround from times past when it was men in manufacturing and construction who were most vulnerable. The key is to enable more women to work full-time and in more diverse parts of the economy, so they are not as vulnerable to the vagaries of the economic cycle.”

“Over the past decade, when gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been stronger, we have seen improved employment growth for both men and women,” said Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, CEO of Financy.

“This has also been correlated with progress in economic equality, as measured by the FWX.

“But whenever GDP has weakened, we have tended to see female employment behave more volatile than male and this has recently led to declines in the FWX. It’s also important to note that FWX has been relatively flat since 2020.”

Victoria’s Minister for Women and Jobs, Natalie Hutchins, said: “Interest rates, unstable political environments in countries like the United States, and global wars are increasing the cost of living, with women often paying the price.”

The Index shows Australia’s path to gender equality in the workforce faces significant hurdles, with a 26.8-year wait for equality in Employment and a 20.6-year wait in Underemployment. The best case scenario for equality is 5.1 years via ASX 200 Board Leadership, followed by a 17.7 year wait in Superannuation savings. The wait for pay parity, and indeed the median overall timeframe for gender equality to be achieved, is 22.1 years – a generation away.

“News of Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency has come as a shock to many with fears that it will lead to a setback in progress on gender equity and more broadly in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Dr Oliver.

“While Americans who switched sides were motivated by ‘cost of living’ concerns rather than rejecting progress on issues like gender equity, it does run the risk that gender equity will be less of a focus for the next few years in the US. We need to guard against this happening in Australia as well, to the extent that US trends often show up in Australia with a lag. The good news is that through the last Trump administration, the FWX continued to trend up.”

“Whilst we have seen female wages grow slightly faster than male wages, and this helped deliver a record breaking improvement in the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index, the fact that women still earn 11.5 per cent on average less than men, makes it all the more difficult to keep up with ongoing cost of living pressures, particularly those that relate to housing, groceries and utilities,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

“Compounding this is the fact that women tend to occupy the most insecure forms of employment, such as part-time and casual roles, as these are often the job types that businesses pull back on when conditions get more difficult,” she said.

“The FWX report underscores the need for policymakers and businesses to prioritize gender equality, even amid economic challenges.

“Encouraging greater flexibility in full-time work and ensuring women’s jobs are not disproportionately affected by economic pressures are crucial steps forward,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

Natalie Previtera CEO of NGS Super added: “The cost-of-living crisis is a stark reminder of the importance of financial independence for women. As leaders, employers, and policymakers, we all have a role to play in creating workplaces where women can thrive, even in the face of economic challenges. By prioritising equity and inclusion, we can build a stronger, fairer Australia for everyone”.

The Financy Women’s Index TM (FWX) is a quarterly measurement of the economic progress of women and timeframes to gender equality in Australia. The FWX is produced by Financy, which is a data insights and tech company that provides the IMPACTER Diversity and Inclusion platform. The Women’s Index is supported by an Advisory Committee which includes Dr Shane Oliver, Simone Cheung, Roger Wilkins, Leonora Risse, Bruce Hockman, Rhiannon Yetsenga and Nicki Hutley. The Index is proudly sponsored by NGS Super, the Ecstra Foundation, Aspire Planning, Seven Consulting, HeirWealth and PritchittBland Communications.

The post Australia women paying the price for economic weakness appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Key points

• Progress to gender equality stalled in the June quarter of 2024 with the FWX slipping by 0.2 points to 77.5 points out of a score of 100.
• A record improvement for the Gender Pay Gap and a steady result for ASX 200 Board Leadership helped to offset much of the weakness in Employment and the Underemployment Rate.
• Overall, the Index is tracking 2 points higher for the year to date and shows a long-term trend in progress towards gender financial equality.
• As we look at the progress towards gender financial equality, it’s interesting to note that whilst gender norms remain challenging in the workforce, and indeed a major barrier to closing gender gaps, women’s sport provides us with good reason for optimism as evidenced most recently by the Paris Olympics.
• FWX Timeframes to gender equality include a best case 5.2 years for ASX 200 Board Leadership, 17.7 years in Superannuation, 20.2 years in Underemployment, 22.6 years in the Gender Pay Gap (as the median timeframe to gender equality) and 24.6 years in Employment, 45.5 years in Unpaid Work and, a very pessimistic, 389.2 years in Education.

Australia’s progress toward gender financial equality slows in the June quarter

Australia needs to do more to challenge outdated gender norms, which continue to contribute to a “two steps forward, one step back” rate of progress on gender financial equality, according to the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX).

The FWX, which tracks timeframes to economic equality every quarter, slipped to 77.5 points in the June quarter of 2024, down by 0.2 points from a revised 77.7 points in March. Despite the decline, the Index has improved over the past 12 months, gaining 2.36 points from 74.8 points in June 2023.

Financy founder and CEO Bianca Hartge-Hazelman notes that despite the gains women are making in the labour market participation and on the sporting field as evidenced by the Paris Olympics, persistent gender norms are still holding back female progress relative to men.

“Similar to what we saw during the Coronavirus pandemic, women are once again bearing the brunt of economic uncertainty largely because they still tend to occupy more flexible and insecure forms of employment, such as part-time and casual roles,” Ms. Hartge-Hazelman says.

“As business conditions weaken, these roles are more likely to be adjusted, with hours reduced to the detriment of the female workforce.”

Natalie Previtera CEO of NGS Super, notes that there is no way to achieve equality without women continuing to take up the mantle of visible leadership – on the field, in the boardroom, in financial and executive roles.

“It’s important to have a voice and lead the charge from the front. As we’ve seen with the Matildas and our female Olympians, women’s success in their chosen field has the power to inspire a nation.”

Dr Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP says the areas desperately requiring improvement include the lower paying career choices young women make when they start their tertiary education relative to men and the ongoing discrepancy in unpaid work around the home.

“Both require attitudinal change,” he says. “Ideally this should start with what we tell our young girls (that they can do whatever they want, and certain jobs pay a lot more than others) and young boys (that girls are their equal, they should expect to share the load around the home and their gender equity benefits all of us).”

The headline FWX score for the June quarter was buoyed by a record-breaking improvement in the national gender pay gap, which fell to 11.5% in May as reported in August. This improvement, reflecting increased wages for early childhood educators and aged care workers, helped lift the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index to 88.5 points, up from 88 points in March.

However, this progress was overshadowed by setbacks in employment outcomes for women relative to men, particularly in monthly hours worked and underemployment. The FWX Employment sub-index, which reflects the gender gap in monthly hours worked, fell to 75.4 points, down from 75.6 in March, as female hours declined by 0.3%, compared to a 0.1% decline for men.

The FWX Underemployment sub-index also worsened in the June quarter, dropping to 71.2 points from 72.2 in March. The female underemployment rate increased by one percentage point to 7.71%, while the male rate improved, dropping by 6 percentage points to 5.22%.

Looking ahead: timeframes to Ggender equality

Australia’s path to gender equality remains long, with the FWX highlighting varying timeframes across key indicators.

• ASX 200 Board leadership: Gender equality is expected by 2030, with a current wait time of 5.2 years, down from 5.7 years 12 months ago.
• Gender pay gap: Equality is expected by 2047 with a 22.6 years wait to close this gap, an improvement from 24.3 years in June 2023.
• Superannuation: Equality is expected by 2042 with a wait of 17.7-years. New data is awaited to update these figures.
• Underemployment rate: Equality is expected by 2024 with a 20.2-year wait.
• Employment: Equality is expected by 2049 with a 24.6-year wait.
• Unpaid Work: Equality is expected by 2070 with a 45.5 year wait.
• Education: Equality is expected by 2414 with little progress being made and a troubling wait of 389.2 years^[1].

“As a general reflection, it’s incredibly frustrating that we see these great moments, such as in sport, at the same time we see the repetition of entrenched norms that see women bear the burden of tougher economic times,” says Nicki Hutley, consulting economist.

“But one must continue to hope that the big moments will change the norms, so the everyday standards improve.”

While Australia has made significant strides in closing the gender pay gap, more work is needed to address the persistent gender norms that continue to hold back progress in other areas. As economic conditions remain uncertain, it is crucial that policymakers and businesses prioritize gender equality in all aspects of the labour market to ensure sustained progress.

Ms. Hartge-Hazelman remains cautiously optimistic, citing the success of Australian women in the Paris Olympics as a positive sign.

“These wins are impressive, and they help to shift the narrative and gender norms over the longer term, which we believe should, in turn, drive greater progress across all of our indicators,” she says.

Read the report.

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Notes:
[1] Source: Financy Sept 2024

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Progress to economic equality in Australia rebounded in the March quarter following the worst annual setback in a decade but has been accompanied by a sudden increase in gender-based violence.

The latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX) gained 2 points (2.7%) to 78.3 points in the March quarter of 2024 and is now 3.66 points higher than where it stood in March 2023.

Financy founder Bianca Hartge-Hazelman says while the progress in financial equality is encouraging, the rise in domestic violence over the same period is deeply concerning.

“Over the past ten years there has been a positive correlation between economic equality progress and declining gender-based violence^[1]; however recently this correlation has started to show signs of decoupling.

“Whilst the long-term trend in both gender financial equality progress and gender-based violence is one of improvement over the last decade, the alarming surge in female deaths this year is of significant national concern.

“It is too early to know if this trend will continue, but if we continue to see this many tragedies (43 women killed this year already) then it will undermine economic progress and equality for women,” she says.

Ms Hartge-Hazelman added that the main drivers of the improvement in the Index were employment and underemployment. 

“The rising cost of living pressures coupled with improved flexible work opportunities are two significant factors helping to drive the growth in female employment,” Ms she says.

The FWX Employment sub-index shows an improved score to 75.2 points out of 100 in the March quarter as women increased their number of monthly hours worked by 2.6% compared to 1.4% for men.

The capacity of women to engage in paid work, as measured by the available working-age population numbers and monthly hours worked, has improved to 65% from 63% compared to 86% for men, up from 85%.

The FWX Underemployment sub-index moved up by 0.88 points to 71.8 points in the March quarter, as female underemployment improved at a faster pace than male underemployment deteriorated.

Despite commendable progress, the fact remains that gender equality advancement is happening at a painfully slow pace and the impact of the 2023 setback has been very disheartening.

“Every step forward in the Financy Women’s Index is welcomed,” says Nicki Hutley, independent economist. “But a truly gender-inclusive society will need both faster and broader progress, including in areas of social inequality and, as this quarter’s report points out, for gender-based violence and societal attitudes more broadly.”



Also speaking on the subject, Dr Leonora Risse of the University of Canberra says that “While we are making strides in women’s economic progress, we are also encountering retaliation and resistance that pushes us in the other direction.

“This all points to a drastically missing piece in our approach to gender equality: if we are going to economically empower women, we need to nurture a society that is not afraid of women being empowered,” says Dr Risse.

Dr Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, says that the rebound in reported violence towards women reminds us that “we can’t simply assume that rising financial equality will necessarily translate to falling gender-based violence. In fact, there could be perverse effect where it may increase it, if some men feel they are being left behind.

“At the very least this shows the need to highlight that women’s financial equality is good for both women and men. Men need to be brought along the journey too,” says Dr Oliver.

Timeframes to economic equality

The best performing area of the Financy Women’s Index in the March quarter with the smallest time frame to achieving gender equality is in ASX 200 Board Leadership with a 5.6 year wait, compared to 17.7 years in Superannuation, 19.9 years in Underemployment, 23.3 years in the Gender Pay Gap (as the median timeframe to gender equality) and 25.6 years in Employment, 45.5 years in Unpaid Work and 389.2 years in Education.

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Notes:
[1] As measured by intimate partner homicides of a woman by a male.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Key points:

• Progress to gender equality went backwards in 2023 with the Financy Women’s Index (FWX) down 1 point to 75.5 points in the December quarter from 76.5 pts in December quarter 2022 due to worsening gender gaps in underemployment and unpaid work.
• The gains in the first part of the year were erased by a 2 point decline in the December quarter, down from 77.5 points in Sept quarter 2023.
• The FWX Unpaid Work sub-index worsened to 67.7 points in Dec 2023 from 69.3 pts in Dec 2022 as men spent fewer hours than women doing unpaid housework and childcare.
• In good news, the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index improved with the underlying gap in full time adult weekly earnings falling to a record low of 12% in the Dec quarter, from 13% in June quarter.
• Timeframes to gender equality are a median 27.7 years.  The best case is 6.3 years for ASX 200 Board Leadership and the worst is 45.5 years in Unpaid Work. Other sub-indexes recorded 33.5 years in Underemployment, 21.9 years in the Gender Pay Gap, and 29.5 years in Employment.

Progress to economic equality in Australia went backwards in 2023 as an increasing number of women were unable to work to their desired potential and continued to do the bulk of unpaid work, the latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX) shows.

With International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March , the FWX helps to contextualise the state of economic equality in Australia in light of recent events, by measuring years to parity across 7 critical indicators*.

Overall, the FWX fell 1 point (pt) to 75.5 pts out of 100 over the 2023 calendar year, with the December quarter (-2pts) firmly putting the brakes on progress.

“In 2024, it is inexcusable that progress towards women’s gender equality should be heading backwards on a number of fronts,” said Nicki Hutley consulting economist.

“While we celebrate progress in board rooms, International Women’s Day needs to see further bold action from corporates and governments, offering women more pathways to meaningful, well-paid careers of choice.”

The results were largely affected by a deterioration in the gender gaps in the Underemployment Rate (-1.56 pts) and Unpaid Work (-2.19 pts) which offset improvement in the Gender Pay Gap (+1.29 pts).

The Underemployment rate gender gap worsened as the female underemployment rate hit a two year high with fewer people unable to secure the work they wanted.

This has come at a time of record unemployment, higher cost of living pressures and constraints in full time work hours in female-heavy industries like Accommodation and Food Services and Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services

“Despite 2023 being a busy year for regulatory changes such as WGEA gender pay gap transparency for private companies, and also social events like the Matildas in the FIFA World Cup, Barbie Movie and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, Australian women remain unable to realise their full economic potential,” said Financy founder Bianca Hartge-Hazelman.

“The recent public release of company pay gap data in Australia shines a spotlight on the ongoing issue of women in 2024 being unable to reach their full potential and the long-term implications of this, ranging from inadequate superannuation savings at an individual level to the limitations placed on Australia’s economic capacity and growth,” she said.

One of the biggest barriers to gender equality remains unpaid housework and care, with the FWX Unpaid Work sub-index worsening over 2023 as the underlying gender gap widened, as reflected by 2022 HILDA Survey data published in the recent December quarter.

Whilst both women and men spent 2% fewer hours on unpaid housework and childcare, the gender gap didn’t close because women continued to do the lion’s share of domestic tasks (59% female v 40% male expressed as percentage of total paid and unpaid work).

Timeframes to equality in unpaid work now stand at 45.5 years in 2023 and 21.9 years for the gender pay gap, the FWX shows. The median timeframe to economic equality is 27.7 years.

Dr Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, notes there is still a long way to go in achieving gender financial equality.

“To properly address financial inequality requires a multi-faceted approach – including removing conscious and unconscious gender bias, making it even easier for women to stay fully in the workforce after having children, men taking on more unpaid family work, making it easier for young girls to assess the financial consequences of their study and career choices, and maybe even making men more like women in some ways.

“The phenomenal success of Taylor Swift as highlighted by her Eras Tour in Australia provides a powerful reminder that women are just as capable and talented as men, including in business. And that young women are likely to have a radically different and more demanding mindsets to their mothers and grandmothers around issues of gender equality, which is something no business can ignore,” said Dr Oliver.

The Gender Pay Gap was increasingly in focus over 2023 with the FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index improving to 88 pts in December 2023 as the gender pay gap fell to a record low of 12%, as measured by the ABS Full Time Adult Average Weekly Ordinary Times Earnings.

“Based on the 2024 WGEA gender pay gap transparency campaign, we would expect that gender gap gaps will slowly improve across industries,” said Hartge-Hazelman.

“However success will depend on stakeholder pressure at a company level, and how organisations respond to it, as well as the removal of any conscious or unconscious gender bias, making it easier for women to return to and stay in a company after starting a family.

“There also needs to be a focus on the number of women not only in leadership positions but those working in male-dominated industries such as Construction,” says Hartge-Hazelman.

The FWX Underemployment sub-index deteriorated in 2023 due to the female underemployment rate worsening to a greater extent than male.

However, the FWX Employment sub-index improved (0.53pts) to 72.9 pts in 2023 as women increased their number of monthly hours worked by 1.6% during the calendar year, outpacing the rate of growth among men’s monthly hours work, up 0.8%.

The capacity of the available female workforce in Australia to engage in paid work is now running at 63% compared to 87% for men.

The latest Financy Women’s Index couldn’t be more timely or relevant, said Natalie Previtera, CEO of NGS Super.

“Against a backdrop of WGEA’s latest report and International Women’s Day focused on ‘Accelerating gender equality through economic empowerment’, now is the perfect time to continue the conversation around the gender pay gap, and the knock-on effect on every facet of women’s lives.

“There is no silver bullet to bridge the gap, but there are many steps we can take to incrementally work towards equality through economic empowerment. I’d like to see us leverage the insights from the FWX not just to measure progress, but to fuel our collective efforts towards a more equitable future,” said Previtera.

Chart 1: Changes in FWX full year performance

Source: Financy Women’s Index December 2023

Chart 2: Changes in years to financial gender equality

Source: Financy Women’s Index December 2023

Note: As flagged in the September quarter, this December quarter report saw a correction to how we calculate the years to equality, which has meant the years to equality is standing at a revised 389 years. This is a very long time and should be treated with some caution. The good news is that the broad trend has been improving since 2013. But only marginally.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

The Financy Women’s Index (FWX) rose to 78.1 points in the September quarter, reflecting further, albeit small, advancement towards economic equality in Australia.

The result is the best gain in two years and cements a correction in women’s financial progress following a decline associated with the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Index rose 2 per cent (1.5 points) to 78.1 points in the September quarter from 76.6 points out of 100 in the June quarter, helped by an improvement in female underemployment and a shift among women studying educational fields linked to higher expected career earnings.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, founder of Financy says the Women’s Index is now 1.9 points higher for 2023, which is good news despite the challenges of a slowing economic environment.

“During the peak of the pandemic, the underlying data captured in the Index was volatile and if we compare where we are today to September 2020, the Index is less than 1 point (0.84) higher – a poor result.

“That said, if we look at economic equality prior to the pandemic in December 2019, the Index is nearly 5 points higher today than it was then.  This suggests a correction in the Index to a more reliable pattern of progress, but the economic environment remains concerning for both female and male employment.”

A slowing economy is behind a bit of a switch from full-time to part-time employment growth by employers. This has been particularly noticeable in female underemployment.

The female underemployment rate improved (7.36 per cent) in the September quarter as more women worked part-time. The male underemployment rate (5.59 per cent) worsened – this helped to narrow the FWX Underemployment sub-index. The number of monthly hours worked by women in the September quarter dipped only just (-0. l per cent) compared to a bigger fall of -1.3 per cent for men.

In Education, Information Technology remains the highest paying educational area for women and has seen female enrolment growth continue to outpace male. Despite this, female enrolments stand at 21,006, about a third less than the 73,716 for male.

Management and Commerce, ranks as the third top paying area for women and female enrolment growth is also higher than it is for male.

Overall, the combination of sustained gains across all FWX indicators comes at a time of increased focus on gender equity policy and research.

“Domestically, we’ve seen the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce Final report handed to the Australian government and, offshore, the awarding of the Nobel Prize in economics to Professor Claudia Goldin for her research that has raised the profile of the gender pay gap and what is behind it – so it’s been a busy period of gender equity headlines and impact,” says Hartge-Hazelman

“What’s needed now is for the tide to turn from all this awareness raising on economic inequality to an environment of collective action by government, companies, and individuals to accelerate progress to equality,” she says.

“The Financy Women’s Index shows we clearly still have a long way to go to achieve gender financial equality,” said Dr Shane Oliver chief economist AMP.

“This is particularly so in areas like the expected earnings flowing from the education choices women make and in unpaid work.

“But the good news is that the Index has improved significantly this year with strong progress in women’s board representation,” he says.

Dr Tracey West, financial education manager at Ecstra Foundation says that critical to closing the financial knowledge deficit and empowering women to make informed financial decisions is boosting financial education in schools.

“The call to action from the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce Final report, which was released in October, to recommend immediate action on financial literacy in the classroom recognises the important role schools play in developing this critical life skill,” she says.

Natalie Previtera CEO of NGS Super added that it’s important we continue to think about gender financial equality beyond women’s years in the workforce.

“We know that women are more likely to experience poverty in retirement than men. An ASFA report found that the average superannuation balance for women aged 60-64 is $70,691 less than that of men,” she says.

Chart 1: Changes in years to financial gender equality

Source: Financy Women’s Index September 2023

Note: Due to significant changes and volatility in the underlying datasets used to calculate the timeframe to equality (Census, uCube and VOCSTATS) we are reassessing our current methodology (which uses a line of best fit approach) and will be updating this figure in the December quarter 2023 report, due for release in March 2024.

Chart 2: Changes in FWX quarterly performance

Source: Financy Women’s Index September 2023

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Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

The Financy Women’s Index (FWX) rose to 78.1 points in the September quarter, reflecting further, albeit small, advancement towards economic equality in Australia.

The result is the best gain in two years and cements a correction in women’s financial progress following a decline associated with the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Index rose 2 per cent (1.5 points) to 78.1 points in the September quarter from 76.6 points out of 100 in the June quarter, helped by an improvement in female underemployment and a shift among women studying educational fields linked to higher expected career earnings.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, founder of Financy says the Women’s Index is now 1.9 points higher for 2023, which is good news despite the challenges of a slowing economic environment.

“During the peak of the pandemic, the underlying data captured in the Index was volatile and if we compare where we are today to September 2020, the Index is less than 1 point (0.84) higher – a poor result.

“That said, if we look at economic equality prior to the pandemic in December 2019, the Index is nearly 5 points higher today than it was then.  This suggests a correction in the Index to a more reliable pattern of progress, but the economic environment remains concerning for both female and male employment.”

A slowing economy is behind a bit of a switch from full-time to part-time employment growth by employers. This has been particularly noticeable in female underemployment.

The female underemployment rate improved (7.36 per cent) in the September quarter as more women worked part-time. The male underemployment rate (5.59 per cent) worsened – this helped to narrow the FWX Underemployment sub-index. The number of monthly hours worked by women in the September quarter dipped only just (-0. l per cent) compared to a bigger fall of -1.3 per cent for men.

In Education, Information Technology remains the highest paying educational area for women and has seen female enrolment growth continue to outpace male. Despite this, female enrolments stand at 21,006, about a third less than the 73,716 for male.

Management and Commerce, ranks as the third top paying area for women and female enrolment growth is also higher than it is for male.

Overall, the combination of sustained gains across all FWX indicators comes at a time of increased focus on gender equity policy and research.

“Domestically, we’ve seen the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce Final report handed to the Australian government and, offshore, the awarding of the Nobel Prize in economics to Professor Claudia Goldin for her research that has raised the profile of the gender pay gap and what is behind it – so it’s been a busy period of gender equity headlines and impact,” says Hartge-Hazelman

“What’s needed now is for the tide to turn from all this awareness raising on economic inequality to an environment of collective action by government, companies, and individuals to accelerate progress to equality,” she says.

“The Financy Women’s Index shows we clearly still have a long way to go to achieve gender financial equality,” said Dr Shane Oliver chief economist AMP.

“This is particularly so in areas like the expected earnings flowing from the education choices women make and in unpaid work.

“But the good news is that the Index has improved significantly this year with strong progress in women’s board representation,” he says.

Dr Tracey West, financial education manager at Ecstra Foundation says that critical to closing the financial knowledge deficit and empowering women to make informed financial decisions is boosting financial education in schools.

“The call to action from the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce Final report, which was released in October, to recommend immediate action on financial literacy in the classroom recognises the important role schools play in developing this critical life skill,” she says.

Natalie Previtera CEO of NGS Super added that it’s important we continue to think about gender financial equality beyond women’s years in the workforce.

“We know that women are more likely to experience poverty in retirement than men. An ASFA report found that the average superannuation balance for women aged 60-64 is $70,691 less than that of men,” she says.

Chart 1: Changes in years to financial gender equality

Source: Financy Women’s Index September 2023

Note: Due to significant changes and volatility in the underlying datasets used to calculate the timeframe to equality (Census, uCube and VOCSTATS) we are reassessing our current methodology (which uses a line of best fit approach) and will be updating this figure in the December quarter 2023 report, due for release in March 2024.

Chart 2: Changes in FWX quarterly performance

Source: Financy Women’s Index September 2023

The post Economic equality improves the most in two years  amid correction from Coronavirus pandemic appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Key points:

• Women’s Index rose 0.2 points in the June qtr to 76.5 points with a recovery in gender financial equality progress helped by improvements in the gender gap and ASX 200 Board Leadership
• 5.7 year wait for equality in Board Leadership – women account for 36.4%
  of ASX 200 board directors.
• 24.3 year wait for the Gender Pay Gap to close – the gap has improved
  to 13% in June qtr but positive momentum still not by enough
  to change timeframes to equality.
• Australia is seeing a changing of social attitudes helped by the gender-lens impacts of the Barbie movie and Matildas World Cup success.
• Despite positive influences, primary care responsibilities are still
  holding women back from working to their desired potential in a
  higher cost of living environment.

Progress to gender financial equality is back on the front foot after two successive quarters in decline, helped by record advancements in the gender pay gap and number of women appointed to ASX 200 board positions, according to the Financy Women’s Index (FWX).

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, founder of Financy, says the result signals a return of overall momentum in progress among the 7 indicators measured in the Women’s Index and comes as Australia undergoes a broader cultural shift helped by the influence of what can only be described as the Barbie and Matildas effect.

“It’s exciting to see the gender pay gap shrink to a record low at a time when there has never been greater media focus on the pay gap, particularly in light of the Barbie movie phenomenon and the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” she said.

The FWX rose by 0.2 points to 76.5 points in the June quarter of 2023, up from a revised 76.2 points in March. The Index is also 0.4 points higher for the year to date.

The most impressive gain was in the number of women appointed to ASX 200 directorships, which rose to 36.4% during the quarter compared to 36% in March. This helped the FWX Board Leadership sub-index gain by 3.4 points and was the most impressive improvement among all the FWX sub-indexes.

The gender pay gap also fell to a historic low of 13% during the quarter – as reflected in May 2023 data as average weekly wages for women rose by 2% compared to 1.6% for men, helping to narrow the disparity. This helped the gender pay gap sub-index add 1.1 points and is an improvement on the 13.3% pay gap reported at the start of this year.

With Equal Pay Day on August 25^th this week, the gender pay gap data shows that full-time working women earn $252 less than men each week and that Australian women will have to work an extra 56 days to make up for the difference, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Despite improved wages growth for women, female dominated industries like Health Care and Social Assistance are underperforming male dominated sectors like Construction on average wages growth (3.4% v 3.8% respectively).

Employment was the only FWX indicator where progress declined as the growth rate in monthly hours worked by men grew by 1.5% in June compared to only 0.7% for women.

Women also struggled to find work in part-time employment more so than men, with the biggest job cuts in male dominated areas including Construction (-43%) and Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services (-37%) and Transport, Postal and Warehousing -(25%).

“While the FWX is showing more positive signs this quarter and as we come off the highs of Barbie and the Matildas, the real test will be how women fare as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and economic growth slows,” said Simone Cheung partner Deloitte Access Economics.

“The question of whether the modest improvements in the FWX are enough of a buffer for women as we enter a period of growing economic uncertainty remains to be seen,” she said.

Will the Barbie and Matildas effect help gender financial equality?

The Barbie and Matildas effect could help support a resurgence in FWX progress towards gender equality, building on this latest June quarter result.

Hartge-Hazelman said that “in many ways the events that are unfolding at the moment are similar to the 2017/2018 #MeToo and Times Up movements in terms of their ability to challenge and change social attitudes. However the big difference is that the Barbie and Matildas effect has been indicative of positive cultural sentiment through entertainment.”

In the two years post #MeToo and Times Up, the FWX experienced its fastest pace of progress in 2019 and 2020, up 3%, then 4%, before the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic disrupted momentum in 2021 (1%) and 2022 (-1%). The number of women occupying ASX 200 board positions also improved by 14% to 29.7% from 26% in the year to December 2018 – the biggest improvement since 2012.

“Barbie has raised awareness around gender equality to a whole new level but in a very positive way and the Matilda’s showed women’s’ sport can be just as popular as men’s sport,” said Dr Shane Oliver chief economist AMP Capital.

“We just have to keep building on these favourable events to make sure that they are turned into lasting change in reducing gender financial inequality,” he said.

Natalie Previtera, CEO of NGS Super added that CEOs and industry leaders can help accelerate the cultural shift by taking greater action.

“Industry leaders have a unique vantage point to be potential agents of transformation and change. We just need to be willing to do it.

“Because companies shape practices and norms that can have broader societal effects. For example, gender balance on Boards and in management, offering flexible work options, as well as access to training and development and the amount of parental leave available to employees are just some of the practices that can make a difference,” said Previtera.

The outlook for gender equality timeframes in Australia

Progress is slowly happening with incremental reductions in the time it will take to achieve gender equality in each of the 7 FWX indicators.

Chart: Changes in years to financial gender equality

Source: Financy Women’s Index March 2023

Changes in timeframes to gender equality

Board Leadership continues to be the best performing area of the FWX, and we are increasingly confident of seeing equality on ASX 200 boards by 2030. Years to equality fell to 5.7 in June, from 5.8 in the March quarter.

The Gender Pay Gap years to equality is 24.3 years. This is a slightly worse result than the 24.2 years in the June quarter 2023. But the recent improvement in the gender pay gap to 13% in June provides hope that this should start to come down if that change continues.

Employment improved its time to equality helped by a legacy of more positive momentum in the annual growth rate. Time to equality fell to 26.8 years in June, from 27.1 years in December.

The time to equality in Underemployment worsened in the June quarter as the annual rate of progress in this area declined further despite the recent narrowing of the gender gap. The years to equality rose to 21.2 years, from 19.8 years in March.

Unchanged in timeframes to gender equality

Education (and Expected Earnings) has an alarming time frame to equality of 139 years.

The fields of study selected by women are less linked to higher potential earnings and the pace of change in this area is extremely slow moving. Underlying data released annually.

Unpaid Work has a time to equality of 44 years in 2021, as reported in 2022, down from 59 years in 2020. Whilst 44 years is still a long time to wait for equality in housework and childcare, the improvement is due to men increasing unpaid work hours. Underlying data released annually.

Superannuation experienced a reduced time frame in the gender gap of median lifetime balance to 19 years, based on the latest available 2019 data, compared to 33 years based on the previous data which captures the 2017 financial year. Underlying data released every two years.