Being Santa’s missus comes at a cost – losing out on a chunk of superannuation. Despite working just as hard every Christmas as the big fella, Mrs Claus is more than $2 million worse off this Christmas, thanks to historical gender disparity in superannuation over time. 

The Clauses have been crunching some numbers, and found: 

• The retirement savings gap in Australia is between 22% and 35%, according to KPMG.  

• Santa’s super has grown to $7.42m this Christmas, while Mrs Claus has $2m less to retire with.  

• Mrs Claus had less to invest due to unpaid labour and the gender pay gap.  

• Verve Super is committed to helping close the gender superannuation gap and getting Mrs Claus a fairer deal.  

 Santa Claus and Mrs Claus have been working since the 1800s, when they were first officially documented. There was no pension legislation in those days, and women weren’t even allowed to invest.  

Only in 1972 were women legally granted equal pay for equal work in Australia, although the gender pay gap continued for other reasons. 

Although paid superannuation wasn’t mandatory in Australia under the Superannuation Guarantee until 1992, Santa and Mrs Claus decided to get onto the investment bandwagon at Christmas time in 1980. After more than 100 Christmases of hard work they began to imagine a retirement future beyond the North Pole and wanted to save up for a cruise.  

In 1980, they invested their savings in the stock market to try to grow their nest eggs. Thanks to the gender gap in retirement savings, which sits at between 22% and 35%, Mrs Claus had $70,000 to invest while Santa had a cool $100k.  

This Christmas, after 44 years invested in the stock market, both the Clauses have seen their savings grow. Santa’s retirement savings have grown to a jolly $7,420,000*. But Mrs Claus, with her $70k invested in 1980, will have a lot less this Christmas: about $5,194,000.  

While she’s still benefitting from the Christmas miracle of compound interest, that smaller principal investment thanks to the gender gap in retirement savings has now resulted in a difference of more than $2 million.  

That’s why the amount you’re putting in your super, not just time in the market, matters. The gender super gap is exacerbated by women not receiving super payments when they take time out of work to raise children or take on other caring duties.  

From July next year those on government parental leave will be entitled to superannuation – a great first step in closing the gap, but there’s still a way to go to help Mrs Claus catch up. 

In the past 12 months Verve Super has been to Parliament to advocate for paid menopause leave and for better protection for victims of financial abuse, both of which impact women’s retirement incomes.  

Verve Super welcomes the government’s parental leave policy, and parent company Future Group offers open-source, progressive workplace policies that support its female and nonbinary employees. Because Mrs Claus – and women like her – deserve to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labour this Christmas.  

Why women end up with less super

• Women in Australia retire with between 22% and 35% less on average than men.  
• The super gap starts to widen around age 30 as women take time out of the workforce, or working reduced hours, to raise families. Historically, this has meant a pause on their super payments as well as their salary.  
• Women tend to earn less than men, making on average 78c for every dollar that men earn. There are more men in higher-paid work and more women in lower-paid work, with female-dominated industries paid less. Women are also less likely to be paid overtime or bonuses.  

*Returns calculated based on investment in the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index from December 1980 to November 2024. The numbers in this article are not reflective of the returns from any specific investment product.