Australian women will need ‘more than 200 years’ to reach income equity with men
New report has called for urgent structural reform after finding women's income and health have deteriorated in the past decade
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Australian women have poorer health, lower incomes and less engagement in the labour force than men, a new report has found.
A health and wellbeing scorecard, published on Monday, has found that women's economic equity and health have deteriorated in the past decade.
In 2020, women reported poorer health than men in all bar one domain, including in mental health, physical and social functioning, and bodily pain.
More women than men experienced elevated psychological distress, with rates since 2011 rising sharply in women aged 18-24 and 55-64.
Women's social functioning, emotional and physical ability to perform their role declined between 2001 and 2020 - and was linked to financial inequity.
There are 2.7 million women missing from the labour force, costing the Australian economy $72bn in lost GDP annually - and also resulting in lower lifetime superannuation accumulations.
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