Women own less super than men

WOMEN now dominate the membership of many of the country’s biggest funds but still own less than half the savings.

Rainmaker Information said while women comprised half of the population, they owned just $44 of every $100 dollars Australia had in superannuation savings.

About 45 per cent of savings in industry super funds belongs to women, while the figure is slightly lower for retail funds at 39 per cent.

“The surprising thing is that the proportion of women’s ownership is the same regardless of their age,” said Alex Dunnin, executive director of research and compliance at Rainmaker Information.

“Women make up 50 per cent of Millennials yet own just 43 per cent of all the superannuation Millennials own.

“Women make up 53 per cent of retirees yet own just 44 per cent of all superannuation owned by retirees.”

He said Rest was the fund with the most female members at almost 1.1 million. But the Australian Retirement Trust born from the recent merger of QSuper and Sunsuper, had the most savings owned by women, at $103bn. The fund has 1.03 million female members, according to Rainmaker.