According to Roy Morgan’s Wealth Report, the wealth women hold has grown over the last decade to 88 per cent of that held by the average man.
Since 2007, women have increased their holding of wealth by 66 per cent, from $236,000 to $393,000.
During the same time period, men have boosted their wealth by 50 per cent, which has seen their net wealth grow from $296,000 to $445,000.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine has said that “if you look at women in paid employment, it’s increasing with women more likely to be in paid employment today compared with 2007”.
“If you break it down further you find more women in full-time employment and part-time employment, [but] for men there’s more in part-time employment [and] slightly fewer in full-time employment,” she said.
However, the Roy Morgan report did reveal that the slow down in the national economy has hit women harder, with the long run trend showing women are being impacted by a weaker economy.
“Generally in society when times get tough, they get tougher for women, but I don’t think this the case [here],” Ms Levine indicated.
Roy Morgan’s figures indicate that this is due to the composition of wealth, with women holding a larger proportion of their wealth in housing, which has meant the housing slowdown has had a greater impact on their wealth.
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