Australia’s retirement income system is not working for the poorest Australians, who are disproportionately women. Australia’s persistent gender gap in retirement savings and incomes means women, particularly single women, are at greater risk of poverty, housing stress and homelessness in retirement.

More generous superannuation tax breaks are predominately used by older, high-income men to reduce their tax bills and would likely worsen gender inequality in retirement savings. This new Grattan Institute report proposes two strategies to reduce the gender gap in retirement savings: better targeting of superannuation tax breaks which currently deliver the largest boost to the retirement incomes of high-income earners, most of whom are men; and a targeted boost to the Age Pension for retirees who do not own their own home delivered as higher Commonwealth Rent Assistance which would help to reduce the risk of women experiencing poverty in retirement.