Women over 55 are at great risk of financial and housing insecurity due to systemic and compounding factors such as:
- Lack of superannuation
- Working part time or casually throughout their lives
- Taking time out of the workforce to care for family
- Bearing the brunt of the gender pay gap
- An increasingly unaffordable private rental market
- Age discrimination
This group of women have suffered lifelong discrimination. Some were forced to resign when they married or were pregnant; financial discrimination meant that many were unable to enter into a home mortgage until the 1970’s; age discrimination means that older people find it difficult to find employment.
The Mercy Foundation has funded a number of studies on the matter of older women and housing and poverty. These are available via this link.
