The number of older women experiencing homelessness is increasing, making them the fastest growing cohort of people facing housing crisis.
There are a multitude of factors that set women up to experience systemic financial disadvantages that their male counterparts do not face. These disadvantages mean that rent increases, limited access to affordable housing, family breakdown and rising cost of living have a disproportionately severe impact on women.
Women over the age of 55 are eight times more likely to experience homelessness. So, what exactly is contributing to their increased risk of homelessness?
The gender pay gap
In Australia, the gender pay gap is currently 11.5%, with women making 89 cents for every dollar a man earns. Despite this being the smallest gap Australia has ever seen, women take home on average $12, 376 less than men per year. This equals 50 full days of work.
This gap is caused by factors such as discrimination and bias in hiring and pay decisions, lower wages in female-dominated industries and jobs, lack of flexibility to accommodate caring responsibilities, and women taking on higher loads of unpaid care and domestic work.
The gender pay gap will cost the average woman over $1 million dollars across her working life.
The superannuation gap
On average, Australian women will retire with 25% less superannuation than men.
The gender superannuation gap is driven largely by part-time work, breaks from the workforce to take on caring responsibilities and the cumulative impact of the gender pay gap over one’s lifetime.
This means that women are more likely to retire into poverty, contributing to older women’s increased risk of homelessness.
How can we prevent it?
Women deserve better.
These economic factors driven by gender inequality mean that events like natural disasters, death of a spouse or a partner becoming abusive put older women at higher risk of housing insecurity and homelessness.
By closing the gender pay gap, superannuation gap and improving financial literacy, we can empower women to take control of their financial futures.
On an individual level, taking charge of your finances as soon as possible can help prevent facing economic insecurity in retirement. Making sure your employer is paying your super correctly, and combining any accounts is a great first step to set yourself up for a stable retirement.
Every woman deserves to have a financially secure and safe future.
