MetLife report shows four-fold gender gap

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

9 March 2023

MetLife Australia’s Value of Life Insurance (VOLI) report has found a gender-based gap exists across four related fronts including superannuation, income, insurance and financial literacy.

Much like Industry Super Australia’s (ISA’s) analysis, MetLife also found that the gender superannuation gap can vary from 22 per cent to 35 per cent in the years leading up to retirement with an approximate difference in female and male super balances of close to $60,000.

However, the report also showed females accounted for 63 per cent of people earning less than $10,000 per annum, leaving women to represent the majority of employees not receiving superannuation.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has also reported the current gender pay gap to be 13.8 per cent, which continues to be largely impacted by the stalled career progression of women due to extended time spent out of the workforce and disproportionate take-up of unpaid caring and domestic work.

“Within MetLife’s Retail business, 60% of policies are held by men, with women accounting for only 40%,” the report also said.

“There are 23.2 million superannuation accounts, which also have a 60/40 male/female split, meaning there is a gender gap in access to insurance inside superannuation – the predominant platform through which most Australians can afford to hold insurance.

“In Australia, only 63% of men and 48% of women understand at least three of the five basic financial literacy concepts. Based on these statistics, potentially over 8.5 million people or 45% of Australians could be classified as financially illiterate.”

However, MetLife’s Customer Perceptions of and attitudes to Australian Life Insurance survey conducted in December last year found 78 per cent of females polled said they have a “good understanding of what they’re covered for with the life insurance they hold”.

Close to 93 per cent of females also agreed that “having adequate life insurance is an important part of being financially secure”, while 89 per cent said they ”trust their financial adviser to help them make informed decisions about their life insurance”.