Most men say ‘no’ to more super for women

Almost two-third of men do not believe women should be paid a higher rate of superannuation to close the gender gap, according to a survey.

The Sunsuper survey found overall, 49 per cent of respondents said women should not be paid extra in super, and nearly a quarter of women surveyed felt "sad" or "scared" when they thought about retirement.

Sunsuper said there was a significant disconnect between the masses of information being pushed to women about super and what Australians understand about the reality of their financial adequacy at retirement.

Sunsuper national head of retail distribution, Anne Fuchs, said while 55 per cent of men said they would have enough money to fund retirement, more than 60 per cent of women believed they would not have enough, or had no idea how much they needed.

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"What's more, most respondents didn't know how big the gender imbalance was when it came to super, with only 18 per cent correctly reflecting ASFA [Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia] data that showed the average woman would retire with a balance of around only half that of her male peers," Fuchs said.

"Many respondents were also wrong about working women continuing to receive super contributions while on maternity leave, with only 13 per cent correctly stating that most don't."

Fuchs said while there was a lot of information about women's lack of financial preparedness for retirement, these messages were being well and truly lost.

"There appears to be a serious divide between the way the financial services industry insists on framing the discussion around women and super, and what needs to happen in terms of generating meaningful conversations that can make real and practical differences to the lives of women in retirement," she said.