The Singlehood Penalty

A woman in her fifties worked as a fashion designer with many successful brands—many brands, because many companies collapsed. She only received full termination entitlements from two companies because the Fair Entitlements Guarantee wasn’t established until 2012. She was never senior enough to receive superannuation until it was mandated in 1992. She took early retirement to live with and care for her ageing parents. It took Centrelink five months to deny her Carer’s Payment. Her income is below the eligibility threshold, but her assets are too high. She has a half share in a rental property and realising this asset—should her siblings agree—will threaten her own retirement security and attract Capital Gains Tax. MyGov can't cope with the fact she doesn’t rent or own, yet is not homeless. Her superannuation, savings, plus rental income is little more than the aged pension, but too much to be eligible for a healthcare card, and reductions on council rates and car registration.

The Singlehood Penalty hits in mid-life and can lead to poor health, homelessness, and destitution in old age. National and international research identifies distinct economic and social consequences that can offset the financial benefits of not having and raising children. While this penalty also affects single men without children, single women without children are more affected due to lower incomes, greater care expectations, and significant barriers to informal support.

Living on a single income drains a woman’s financial resources. Not having children excludes her from informal support, and access to social and community services. The Singlehood Penalty is more severe for women due to the triple disadvantage of gender, relationship status and parental status. 

Gender undermines a single woman’s economic and housing security simply because she is paid less than men. The Australian total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.7%, though the salary gender pay gap is historically low of 11.5%. Among chief executive officers the gender pay gap is at 25%. And the widest gap is among older workers. Women in their late 50s typically earn $53,000 less per year than men of the same age. The intractable housing shortage, skyrocketing rents and mortgage rates, coupled with the gender wage gap, makes the spectre of homelessness very gendered and very real.

Relationship Status threatens a woman’s autonomy and independence when not only the economy, but public services, such as health, disability, and ageing assume users come from a dual income household and have family support during a crisis. Our health and aged care systems rely on family members to provide informal support and advocacy to prevent patients falling through the cracks. And Australia’s tax and transfer system combines with our wage system to support couples and families financially without considering the unique financial challenges of singlehood.

Therefore, it is economically prudent for a woman to couple. But coupling can be life threatening. In 2024, 74 Australian women were violently killed at the hands of male intimate or ex-intimate partners. On average, that’s more than one woman a fortnight.

Parental Status threatens a single person’s work-life balance. She is called on to fill in for work colleagues while also providing care for ill, disabled, or ageing relatives. Her care work often incurs uncompensated costs with no guarantee of reciprocal support in a pandemic, a disaster, when she falls ill, or ages. Anecdotal evidence indicates that without children, any inheritance a single woman may receive can be overlooked or contested. She is often ineligible for government assistance until her savings are eroded, and she will not be prioritised for social and community services, or disaster response, simply because she doesn’t have children.

The intersection of a woman’s gender, relationship and parental status conspires to deny social and financial support when she needs it most. Single women without children pay tax, yet receive few concessions or benefits that recognise the unique challenges of their lives. They participate fully in a society which offers little in return.

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