Gender financial equality suffers setback as FWX falls again

The latest results from the Financy Women’s Index (FWX), tracking several indicators to determine progress to gender financial equality, have indicated yet another drop for the second consecutive quarter by 0.2 points.

Now at 77.2 points for the September quarter, the index is currently tracking 0.43 points lower in the calendar year to date and is 0.65 points behind its September 2023 position.

The September quarter saw the wait for gender equality to be achieved in the Employment and Underemployment sub-indices actually increase to 26.8 years and 20.6 years respectively.

 “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,” Dr Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP and member of FWX Advisory Committee, said.

“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.”

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, CEO of Financy, noted a connection between stronger equal gender opportunities and strong economic growth.

“Over the past decade, when gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been stronger, we have seen improved employment growth for both men and women,” she said.

“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.”

According to the FWX most recent quarterly results, the sub-index most likely to deliver equality in the shortest timeframe is ASX 200 board leadership (5.1 years), followed by superannuation (17.7 years), pay parity (22.1 years), unpaid work (45.5 years) and education (389 years).

“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,” Hartge-Hazelman said.

“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.

“The FWX report underscores the need for policymakers and businesses to prioritise 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.”

Dr Oliver also indicated the negative impacts of Donald Trump’s election to the US presidency on progress already made on gender equity and “more broadly in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion”.

“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,” he said.

“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.”