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The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households

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  • Siobhan Austen
  • Therese Jefferson
  • Rachel Ong

Abstract

This study investigates the gender wealth gap in Australia by examining differences in the net worth of households headed by single women and men, using data from the 2006 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. It demonstrates that the gender wealth gap is concentrated in particular types of assets, and differences in the composition of wealth, especially in high net worth households, are an important feature of the wealth gap in Australia. Using decomposition techniques within a quantile regression framework, the study explores the effects of individual characteristics of single male and female households on their wealth and finds that individual factors play a relatively small role in accounting for the large gender wealth gap at the top of the wealth distribution. Therefore, differences in the composition of men and women's wealth portfolios contribute to the gender wealth gap, and future research must account for these differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Siobhan Austen & Therese Jefferson & Rachel Ong, 2014. "The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 25-52, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:20:y:2014:i:3:p:25-52
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2014.911413
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    Cited by:

    1. Sierminska, Eva & Piazzalunga, Daniela & Grabka, Markus M., 2018. "Transitioning towards more equality? Wealth gender differences and the changing role of explanatory factors over time," GLO Discussion Paper Series 252, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Anglade, Boaz & Useche, Pilar & Deere, Carmen Diana, 2017. "Decomposing the Gender Wealth Gap in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 19-31.
    3. Rohan Best & Noura Saba, 2021. "Quantifying Australia’s Gender Superannuation Gap," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(318), pages 410-423, September.
    4. Siobhan Austen & Rachel Ong & Sherry Bawa & Therese Jefferson, 2015. "Exploring recent increases in the gender wealth gap among Australia’s single households," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(1), pages 3-28, March.
    5. Marcela PARADA‐CONTZEN, 2023. "Gender, family status and health characteristics: Understanding retirement inequalities in the Chilean pension model," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(2), pages 271-303, June.
    6. Karla Cordova & Markus M. Grabka & Eva Sierminska, 2022. "Pension Wealth and the Gender Wealth Gap," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 755-810, October.
    7. Duc Hong Vo & Phuong Doan Ho & Chi Minh Ho & Michael McAleer, 2019. "The Gender Wealth Gap by Household Head in Vietnam," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 23(3), pages 122-153, September.
    8. Roger Wilkins, 2021. "Economic Wellbeing," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 469-481, December.
    9. Waitkus, Nora & Minkus, Lara, 2021. "Investigating the gender wealth gap across occupational classes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Frémeaux, Nicolas & Leturcq, Marion, 2020. "Inequalities and the individualization of wealth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

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