I was 21 years old and leaving my first ever full-time job when a woman I worked with gave me an unusual farewell gift: a subscription to Money Magazine. At the time, I thought of it as a thoughtful gesture, but I didn’t fully understand its significance.
Decades later, I do.
That gift wasn’t just about finance. It was an act of empowerment. It was one woman passing down knowledge to another, making sure I had access to information she wished she had when she was my age. It was a moment of quiet mentorship, an early seed planted that would later shape the way I think about money, security, and the role we all play in lifting each other up.
Because here’s the truth: When you educate a woman about money, you don’t just change her life. You change the lives of those around her.
Women don’t hoard financial knowledge; we share it. We pass it on to our daughters, our friends, our colleagues. We help each other navigate the complexities of superannuation and retirement, home ownership, and financial independence. And yet, despite this natural inclination to share and support, systemic barriers continue to hold us back.
This quarter’s FWX shows women still earn 11.9% less than men – a shortfall of $247 per week or $12,800 annually – but the superannuation gap is even more devastating. Australian women retire with, on average, 25% less super than men, and at the current rate of progress, equality in superannuation savings won’t be reached for another 17.7 years. Many older women are continuing to work beyond retirement age due to insufficient superannuation savings and pension rates, highlighting the urgent need for systemic change. That’s not just a statistic—it’s a lifetime of fewer choices, greater vulnerability, and financial anxiety in what should be a time of security.
The superannuation gap isn’t inevitable. It’s a result of policies and structures that haven’t evolved to reflect the realities of women’s lives. Women take career breaks to care for children, work part-time at higher rates, and live longer than men. Women also spend 58% of their total work time on unpaid labour, compared to 41% for men, further widening the economic divide. In recent years there’s been encouraging progress, but our financial systems still don’t fully account for these differences.
It’s why we need more than just financial education – we need action. We need more policies that continue to make superannuation fairer. But until all those changes come, we can’t afford to wait. We can take action in our own circles, just like that colleague did for me all those years ago.
So this International Women’s Day, I have a challenge for every woman reading this: Pass it on.
A simple gesture, a shared lesson, or a small act of mentorship could be the catalyst that changes another woman’s financial future. Share a financial lesson with another woman in your life. It might be a book recommendation, a budgeting tip, or a conversation about super. It might be as small as explaining what co-contributions are or as significant as sitting down with a younger woman to help her map out a financial plan.
Because small actions add up. One magazine subscription changed the way I think about money. Imagine what we could do if we all paid that knowledge forward.
Let’s start a quiet revolution – one conversation, one shared lesson at a time.
Natalie Previtera is the CEO of NGS Super – a leading industry super fund for teachers and staff in non-government education and community organisations.
