The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households

Abstract

This study investigates the gender wealth gap in Australia by examiningdifferences in the net worth of households headed by single women andmen, using data from the 2006 Household, Income and Labour Dynamicsin Australia (HILDA) Survey. It demonstrates that the gender wealth gap isconcentrated in particular types of assets, and differences in the composition ofwealth, especially in high net worth households, are an important feature ofthe wealth gap in Australia. Using decomposition techniques within a quantileregression framework, the study explores the effects of individual characteristicsof single male and female households on their wealth and finds that individualfactors play a relatively small role in accounting for the large gender wealth gapat the top of the wealth distribution. Therefore, differences in the compositionof men and women’s wealth portfolios contribute to the gender wealth gap, andfuture research must account for these differences.