INTHEBLACK November 2021 - Magazine - Page 39
C O N T R A RY T O T H E N O T I O N S O F H I G H E R E A R N I N G S A N D
D I S P O S A B L E I N C O M E B AS E D O N AS S U M P T I O N S O F A N
UNINTERRUPTED CAREER, FINANCIAL SECURITY IS AN ONGOING
CHALLENGE FOR OLDER SINGLE WOMEN WITHOUT CHILDREN.
THE
FREEDOM
PARADOX
STORY MEGAN BREEN
T
here are many misconceptions about women
without children – they have more time,
more disposable income, their careers are
uninterrupted and they are freed from caring
duties. Their higher earnings over their career mean
they glide through retirement cushioned by comfortable
nest eggs.
This might be the case for some, but new research
shows the opposite is true in many cases, raising
several questions about how this cohort could be
better supported in retirement.
Security in Old Age for Older Single Women
Without Children, co-authored by researchers from
the University of Sydney, the University of New South
Wales and Curtin University, and supported by
CPA Australia, analyses data from the national
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia
(HILDA) Survey, primarily looking at 4000 women
aged 45 and older who are single without children. This
is supplemented with online focus group sessions with
older single women without children, as well as phone
interviews with accountants and financial planners
about the support currently available.
The study represents the first detailed research into
this cohort, according to lead researcher associate
professor Myra Hamilton, principal research fellow
at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population
Ageing Research at the University of Sydney.
UNFAIR PENALTY
While much research is being conducted into
improving the economic security of single older women,
most of it focuses on the “motherhood penalty”, a
term used to describe the effects of having and raising
children on women’s labour market participation.
“Very little is actually known about older single
women without children and how they’re going when
it comes to economic security in later life,” Hamilton
says. “Australia’s population is ageing, and women are
much more likely than men to live in poverty in old
age, especially single women. We wanted to try and
understand what’s going on for women who don’t
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