“Women today retire with 25 per cent less super than men. The median super balance of women aged 60–64 is $51,000 lower than for men, and women are around 10 per cent more likely to have no super at all,” the report said.

However, the report found that it is now older women who are feeling the impact of policy settings that have not yet eliminated systematic gender gaps in paid work, unpaid care and wealth accumulation.

“Under current policy settings, and on current trends, by the 2040s there will be 270,000 more divorced women aged 65 or older, up 55 per cent from today. More women will face informal caregiving demands for ageing parents, with the number of people aged 85 or older set to double,” the report said.

“More older women will be renting, with home ownership rates projected to fall from about 80 per cent (of people currently aged 65 or older) to 70 per cent. The retired woman of the future is also less likely to be a home owner than the retired woman of today, and can also expect to live just over a year longer. These factors mean that, for some women, a higher superannuation balance may not translate into a better standard of living throughout retirement.”

The report also revealed that among people aged 60 or older, women experience higher poverty rates than men (25 per cent versus 21 per cent). Some groups of women fare much worse, especially those who are single and/or rent in the private market, for whom home ownership has typically been out of reach throughout their lives.

The SMC made several key recommendations in the report that it feels would help mitigate the widening superannuation gender gap for older women, including unfreezing the low-income super tax offset (LISTO), reconsidering the effectiveness of government co-contributions, improving transparency about who is benefiting from super tax concessions, and reviewing all super tax concessions through a gender lens.

“A failure to update the LISTO cap and threshold over time means that a declining number of people are benefiting from the LISTO. When the predecessor to the LISTO was introduced in 2012, the second income tax bracket applied up to a taxable income of $37,000 and the SG rate was 9 per cent, meaning that the LISTO would fully refund contributions taxes for everyone in this tax bracket,” the report said.

“However, since then, both tax brackets and the SG rate have changed, with the second bracket now applying up to $45,000 and the SG rate now 11.5 per cent. The gap between marginal income tax rates and super contributions tax – the effective concession on super contributions – is negligible for people on incomes between $28,986 and $37,500, and small for incomes up to $45,000.”

The SMC also urged the government to close gendered loopholes in super coverage, including through payday super reforms, and by paying super for all workers, including nannies, housekeepers and carers, and for all workers aged under 18.

Additionally, it is calling for fairer splitting of super in divorce settlements, whether or not they are handled in a court, and to address tax and regulatory barriers to retirees drawing down their superannuation.

These include rules that stop money from being added to income streams after they commence, minimum balance requirements for income stream products, and tax settings that create incentives for people with other sources of funds to hoard money in superannuation.