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

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 par...

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Main Authors: Austen, Siobhan, Jefferson, Therese, Ong, Rachel
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49530
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author Austen, Siobhan
Jefferson, Therese
Ong, Rachel
author_facet Austen, Siobhan
Jefferson, Therese
Ong, Rachel
author_sort Austen, Siobhan
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description 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.
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publishDate 2014
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-495302017-12-08T05:33:36Z The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households Austen, Siobhan Jefferson, Therese Ong, Rachel assets financial security wealth Gender analysis portfolio composition 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. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49530 10.1080/13545701.2014.911413 Routledge fulltext
spellingShingle assets
financial security
wealth
Gender analysis
portfolio composition
Austen, Siobhan
Jefferson, Therese
Ong, Rachel
The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title_full The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title_fullStr The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title_full_unstemmed The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title_short The Gender Gap in Financial Security: What We Know and Don't Know about Australian Households
title_sort gender gap in financial security: what we know and don't know about australian households
topic assets
financial security
wealth
Gender analysis
portfolio composition
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49530