Women feeling brunt of tough economy, Retirement Commission data shows
Photo:
Emil Kalibradov/Unsplash
Women are feeling the brunt of tough economic times, new data from the Retirement Commission indicates.
Its financial sentiment tracker shows 62 percent of women are now feeling financially uncomfortable, compared to 51 percent of men.
The proportion of women worried about their finances pay-to-pay and their levels of debt has reached the highest since the research began in July 2021.
The gap between men and women's self-rated financial comfort as widened significantly over the past four years, moving from a five percentage point gap in 2022, to 11 percentage points in 2025.
Viewed quarterly, it was apparent that while men were starting to recover financially, women's perceived financial situation has not recovered, the commission said.
In total, 44 percent of people did not have an emergency fund in place, which the commission said threatened their financial resilience. Women were less likely to have an emergency fund.
Tom Hartmann, the commission's personal finance lead, said much of the difference came back to income. When incomes were equal, there was less difference reported.
"There is a lot that happens after that. But if that's not there…."
He said in households with more traditional roles, women might also have a clearer view of the family finances and "what would be useful to have".
Liz Koh, founder of Enrich Retirement, said women tended to plan ahead financially more than men did, and could worry about money more.
"In addition, women tend to be in a weaker financial position than men due the gender pay gap, and periods out of the work force which affect their savings. Women also tend to underestimate their financial capability, while men are more likely to overestimate it - so there is a confidence factor at play that can make women feel as though they are out of their comfort zone when dealing with money issues."
Financial mentor David Verry, of North Harbour Budgeting Services, said he was not surprised by the data.
"In some situations we come across, the female has the better credit record and loans are taken out in the female's name - sometimes for a vehicle for the use of the male. The male then takes off, with vehicle or other assets, leaving the female with the obligation.
"Men are also less likely to admit they are in trouble or ask for assistance, from financial mentors or anyone else for that matter. We will see the female in a relationship ask for the first meeting and then have to drag the male to subsequent ones, if at all. Head in the sand, I don't need help, bravado."
Young people were also worse off - the proportion of 18 to 34 year olds feeling financially comfortable dropped from 53 percent in 2022 to 43 percent this ear.
For Māori, it fell from 42 percent two years ago to 34 percent this year.
Hartmann said it was not hard to trace discomfort to the wider economic conditions.
Although the research looked at the existence of emergency accounts, this was the sort of time when people might need to tap into those savings, he said.
For the year 56 percent of people overall said they were financially uncomfortable, compared to 49 percent in 2021/22.
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