Key Points
- After Lyn Maciver's husband suffered a stroke, she became his full-time carer, leaving her high-paying job.
- Women are still retiring with a third less superannuation than men while doing the majority of unpaid care work.
- A new report urges superannuation be paid on parental leave and more recognition of unpaid care work.
24 years ago, Lyn Maciver's husband had a severe stroke at 58 years old.
He was put into a coma for two and half months, and the prognosis was he would never walk or talk again. It was recommended to Lyn that she look for a nursing home for him.
Faced with the absence of suitable care facilities for a 58-year-old, she assumed the role of his full-time caregiver.
She decided they would move to their farm in central-west New South Wales.
"I had 90 head of longhorn cattle and a husband who couldn't walk or talk. And so I began a journey that I wouldn't wish on anybody."
Before their move, Maciver had a high-paid job in Sydney, and had amassed $300,000 in superannuation.
She had to give up her paid employment to take care of her husband, and for seven years the couple were living off their savings — including Lyn's superannuation — with no financial assistance from the government, she said.
No holiday for almost 20 years
In 2007, their savings depleted, forcing them to sell the farm and return to their home in Epping in Sydney's north-west, which they had purchased just three months before Maciver's husband's stroke.
She confronted the financial prospect of unemployment, alongside a quarter-of-a-million-dollar mortgage.
The disability and carer's pensions that she and her husband receive altogether are around $1,800 a fortnight, which she says barely even covers their very expensive caring costs.
She believes that unpaid care should be treated by society and the government as a job.
"Anyone who stayed home, even looking after kids, knows that you're not lying around the pool eating grapes, you're pretty flat out all the time. There should be no such thing as unpaid caring," she said.
Maciver said that for her and other carers, being paid superannuation would offer a bit of respite.
"It would have allowed me to have a holiday. I haven't had a holiday since 2007. Just a break."
Women are still retiring with a third less superannuation than men despite living longer and retiring earlier. Source: Getty / John Keeble
The gendered superannuation gap persists in every state and territory
Women are still retiring with a third less superannuation than men despite living longer and retiring earlier.
A new report by the Super Members Council, Securing a Dignified Retirement for More Women, assessed the last seven years and found that the gendered superannuation gap persists in every state and territory.
The report focused on women in their thirties, who are the primary group where the super gap has failed to narrow. One of the key reasons for this is that women still do the majority of unpaid care work — whether that's for their children or ageing family members.
The Super Members Council's analysis found that paying super on the Parental Leave Pay Scheme would leave a mother of two $12,500 better off at retirement and, therefore, make a meaningful reduction in the gender super gap, which currently sits at around $50,000.
The report focused on women in their thirties who are the primary group where the super gap has failed to narrow. Source: Getty / picture alliance/dpa
"We see a direct correlation with one of the big gaps in the system at the moment, which is the fact that currently, superannuation is not paid on the government's paid parental leave scheme," Brumby said.
"We're calling on the government to prioritise this in its upcoming federal budget as we think it would make a significant difference to those women in their thirties."
Should all carers receive superannuation?
The role of unpaid care workers in general will also be the focus of the Super Members Council for the next few months.
Brumby didn't confirm that the body agreed unpaid carers should receive superannuation, saying only that it's something they were looking at.
"They (carers) are doing unpaid work that, in many cases, will be more challenging and more of a burden than most people's normal jobs," Brumby said.
"It is something we are looking at in terms of our own advocacy — what the right sort of ... avenue might be to ensure that unpaid caring is recognised when we are looking at superannuation contributions."
Jo Kowalzcyk, CEO of Women in Super — a not-for-profit organisation that works to improve women's retirement outcomes — advocated for some form of compensation for unpaid carers, but also fell short of suggesting superannuation was the answer.
But Kowalzcyk said Women in Super wholeheartedly support superannuation being paid during paid parental leave.
"Women in Super have been calling for super to be paid on paid parental leave since its inception. It's one of the only forms of leave that doesn't attract super, so we would support that in the report 100%," she said.
Other barriers to narrowing the gap
Another barrier mentioned in the report is changes to the low-income superannuation tax offset, which currently finds those earning less are taxed more heavily on their superannuation.
Women make up the majority of low-income earners, but the full tax refund on super guarantees currently only covers those earning up to $37,000.
The report noted that adjusting this threshold to $45,000 would boost the super of more than 1.2 million Australians, of whom 60 per cent are women, by an extra $500 million in the 2025-26 financial year alone.
