However, early financial education, strategic career planning and active investing can help women reduce this gap over time.
As women grow older, the gender pay gap expands significantly. It starts at about 2.5% under the age of 25 and can reach over 30% by mid-life. While structural inequalities contribute to this, personal financial choices and social patterns are also highly influential. This widening gap results from both systemic issues and life events such as caregiving responsibilities, interrupted income and limited superannuation growth, which gradually stack the odds against women.
From a young age, boys typically receive more money than girls, both through formal means like pocket money and informal cultural signals. Research from an Australian comparison site shows that boys receive up to 27% more than girls. This inequality begins before children even enter the workforce and places them on unequal financial footing. Boys are often paid for visible or physical chores such as lawn mowing, while girls perform unpaid or less valued tasks like laundry and dishwashing. These early experiences shape long-term beliefs about the value of work and financial behaviour.
This inequality becomes more acute in adulthood, especially when women step away from work to have children. Government data shows that having a child can lower a woman’s earnings by 55% over five years. In contrast, men’s earnings are largely unaffected. Women are also more likely to work in lower-paid sectors such as education and care. When more women join traditionally male-dominated fields, overall pay in those fields can even decline. Female participation in high-growth industries like technology remains limited, partly due to long-standing perceptions that such roles are 'too male-dominated'.
During mid-career stages, women often face challenges when negotiating pay. Many prefer to see firm data before requesting a raise, whereas men are generally more confident in negotiating. New tools provided by government agencies now allow employees to compare their salaries within their workplaces and help to close the transparency gap. Employers also have a responsibility to stop asking about prior salaries, as this practice continues to carry wage discrimination from one role to another.
By retirement, the effects of lower earnings become more pronounced. Women have smaller superannuation balances and are also more vulnerable to financial disruptions like divorce or widowhood. These setbacks, combined with a history of under-saving, have made women over 55 one of Australia’s fastest-growing groups at risk of homelessness. Experts recommend that women under 45 consider switching to growth-oriented super investments and make consistent efforts such as salary sacrificing $50 a week to strengthen their long-term financial security.
Closing the gender pay gap involves more than just policy reform. It requires families, schools and individuals to reshape early attitudes around money and actively make informed choices throughout life. Achieving pay equality begins with understanding that financial empowerment is a continuous journey, not something to be delayed.
