Gender super gap in pre-retirees widens over last decade

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

22 June 2026

At the same time as overall superannuation balances have grown in the last decade so has the gender superannuation gap in the 60-to-64-year-olds age cohort, according to the Super Members Council’s (SMC’s) analysis of new Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data.

Among this cohort of pre-retirees, the gender super gap now stands at 26 per cent, surging just under six per cent in the last 10 years since it was 20.5 per cent in 2016. In this same age bracket and over the same time period, median super balances rose by approximately 7.4 per cent for men (to $236,000) and seven per cent for women (to $175,000).

This comes as women – despite overall making more frequent personal contributions than men (11.6 per cent versus 10 per cent) with a slightly higher average amount ($28,900 versus $28,100) – still retire with 26 per cent less in superannuation than men.

According to the recently released ATO data covering each state, the overall gender super gap was the closest in South Australia ($10,400) and the largest in Western Australia ($23,700), while nationally women’s median super balances were approximately 22 per cent lower than men’s.

This has renewed calls from the SMC to the Government to continue implementing more reforms that work to close the gender super gap, following on from legislating payday super, paying super on paid parental leave and lifting the Low-Income Super Tax Offset (LISTO).

These include dumping an “outdated exclusion” that restricts part-time under-18 workers from earning guaranteed superannuation and providing more support for older women experiencing common “later-in-life events” such as separation, unpaid caregiving for older relatives and family violence that are more likely to force early retirement.

“Super balances are growing, which is great news for millions of Australians’ retirement incomes — but women are still retiring tens of thousands of dollars behind men, and that gap must be fixed,” Super Members Council CEO, Misha Schubert, said.

“Crucial recent reforms like payday super laws, paying super on paid parental leave, and boosting support for low‑income working people have made big strides forward for women — but this data confirms that we need to fix the remaining gaps in super coverage so no woman is left behind.”