Facts: Women’s personal finances
Swedbank has had Kantar Sifo ask 5,100 people in February and 3,100 people in May about personal finances. The survey is carried out repeatedly with the same questions.
The questions concern, among other things, savings, ability to cope with unforeseen expenses, joint and shared finances, distribution of costs within couple relationships and what the dependence on the partner looks like.
In the last 25 years, women’s earnings have increased by 70 percent, while men’s have increased by 53 percent. However, the gap is closing more slowly now.
Women’s median income was SEK 323,000 in 2021, compared to men’s SEK 387,000.
Women’s pension in 2021, on average, for 65-69-year-olds was 213,000, against men’s 264,000.
Source: Swedbank
For several years, Swedbank has mapped women’s private finances, and examined how salaries, part-time work, pensions, parental leave and savings look, among other things. Madelén Falkenhäll, sustainability economist at Swedbank, states that for many years things have looked increasingly better with respect to gender equality.
“But now it looks as if the development is taking a step back,” she says.
Women and men have answered the question: Do you worry about any of this regarding your finances?
Sure, women earn a little more, work a little more and get a little more in retirement every year. But it will take even longer now compared to how it looked before, before anything resembling economic equality can be achieved.
According to Madelén Falkenhäll’s research, incomes will be equal in 2048.
— There are signs that the income gap is closing more slowly now.
Smaller margins
The economic crisis hits women harder, because women’s finances are more vulnerable. Margins are smaller as incomes are lower, she explains.
Swedbank has asked around 3,000 people, both men and women, about personal finances. It turns out that women are more anxious than men, and that more women than men are dependent on their partner for financial support.
— We ask the same question every year, and we see that more women are now more dependent because they have poorer finances.
Only 58 percent of the women who answered say they have a salary that they can get by on if they were to separate. Last year, that figure was 63 percent.
Madelén Falkenhäll states that many women work in professions where wages are relatively low, such as in healthcare or in shops.
Part-time work is the norm in many professions
In many cases, women work part-time, perhaps when the children are small. But also by compulsion even later in the years. Often only part-time is offered in traditional women’s occupations. This means that the already low wages become even smaller when the money lands in the account.
— We must have people who work in healthcare, school and in the shops for society to function. This is a problem for the whole society, which needs to be raised.
Low income, due to low pay and due to part-time work, affects women’s financial independence and continues all the way into retirement age. According to Swedbank’s survey, women are significantly more worried about their pension than men are.