Baseline report

Data

In February 2024, women’s participation rate was 62.9 per cent, compared to 70.7 per cent for men. 

In 2023, the participation rate was lowest for:

• Women aged 65 years and over (11.6 per cent) followed by women aged 55 to 64 years (63.5 per cent). It was highest for women aged 24-34 years (82.6 per cent).
• Women who aren’t married (57.8 per cent) compared to married women (66.3 per cent).
• Women born in countries other than the main English-speaking countries (60.5 per cent) compared to women born in the main English-speaking countries (60.8 per cent) and women born in Australia (63.7 per cent).
• Women whose highest level of educational attainment is year 12 or below (47.4 per cent). It was highest for women with a diploma or above (76.8 per cent).
• Single mothers with non-dependent children (42.2 per cent). It was highest for women in couple families with dependent students over the age of 15 years (85 per cent).

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Data source

Labour Force, Australia | Australian Bureau of Statistics

Released monthly

Data

In 2020-21, median superannuation gaps (men minus women):

• Under 18: $120 (39.1 per cent)
• 18-24 years: $299 (7.1 per cent)
• 25-29 years: -$285 (-1.7 per cent - women have higher balances than men)
• 30-34 years: $6,133 (14.7 per cent)
• 35-39 years: $16,661 (22.5 per cent)
• 40-44 years: $29,127 (27.3 per cent)
• 45-49 years: $43,275 (30.9 per cent)
• 50-54 years: $54,059 (32.4 per cent)
• 55-59 years: $60,549 (31.7 per cent)
• 60-64 years: $53,190 (25.1 per cent)
• 65-69 years: $12,753 (6.0 per cent)
• 70-74 years: $4,102 (1.9 per cent)
• 75 years or more: $5,206 (3.0 per cent)
• Total (all ages): $14,914 (21.7 per cent)

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Data source

Individuals statistics | Australian Taxation Office

Released annually

Data

In 2020-21, 18.7 per cent of retired women’s main source of personal income at retirement was superannuation (compared to 34.7 per cent of retired men).

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Data source

Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, 2020-21 financial year | Australian Bureau of Statistics

Released annually

Data

In 2020-21, 18.6 per cent of retired women had no sources of personal income at retirement (compared to 3.1 per cent of men).

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Data source

Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, 2020-21 financial year | Australian Bureau of Statistics

Released annually

Data

In 2020-21, 34 per cent of retired women relied on their partner’s income to meet their living costs at retirement (compared to 7 per cent of retired men). 

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Data source

Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, 2020-21 financial year | Australian Bureau of Statistics

Released annually

Data

In 2020-21, median annual personal income from investment was $105 for women and $103 for men (a gender gap of –1.9 per cent).

• At the 75th percentile, this widens to $2,168 for women and $2,389 for men (a gap of 9.3 per cent).
• For people aged 65 years and over, median investment income was $2,995 for women and $2,237 for men (a gap of –33.9 per cent), widening to $14,115 for women and $12,802 for men at the 75th percentile (–10.3 per cent).

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Data source

Personal Income in Australia, 2020-21 | Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data request

Released annually

Data

In February 2024, 54.6 per cent of age pension recipients aged 65 to 85 years were women, and 63.3 per cent of age pension recipients aged 85 years and older were women

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Data source

DSS Income Support Recipients – Monthly Time Series | data.gov.au

Released monthly

Data

In 2022-23, there were 273,648 specialist homelessness services clients, of which 59.4 per cent were women. 

• 21.1 per cent of female clients were aged 25-34 years
• The main source of income for female clients were the Parenting payment (25.6 per cent), JobSeeker payment (23.9 per cent) and Disability support pension (12.1 per cent)
• For women the most common main reason for seeking assistance was family and domestic violence (16.3 per cent), for men it was housing crisis (11.2 per cent)
• 65.1 per cent of all young people presenting alone to services were women
• 59 per cent of female clients were in major cities, 34.3 per cent were in regional areas and 6.7 per cent were in remote and very remote areas
• 28.6 per cent of female clients were Indigenous
• 52.8 per cent of older clients seeking assistance were female
• 2.3 per cent of female clients had a disability
• 32.8 per cent of female clients had a mental health issue
• 87.2 per cent of all clients were born in Australia
• 14.7 per cent of all clients spoke a language other than English at home; 20.6 per cent of these spoke Aboriginal English

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Data source

Specialist homelessness services annual report 2022–23, Data | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Released annually

Data

On Census night 2021, 122,494 people were estimated to be homeless; 55.9 per cent of these were male and 44.1 per cent of these were female.

• 51 per cent of Indigenous Australians experiencing homelessness are female.
• 23.4 per cent of women experiencing homelessness are Indigenous.
• Young females had a homelessness rate of 70 people per 10,000 and young males had a rate of 71 per 10,000.
• Young females were more likely than males to be in supported housing (26.6 per cent) or staying temporarily with other households (9.9 per cent).
• Older females had a rate of 19 people per 10,000 and older males had a rate of 34 per 10,000.
• Older females were more like to be living in severely crowded dwellings (30.5 per cent), staying temporarily with other households (26.7 per cent) or in supported accommodation (16.9 per cent).

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Data source

Estimating Homelessness: Census, 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (via TableBuilder)

Released every five years