Income, Housing Wealth and Gender Inequality

Abstract

Gender inequalities in income are relatively widely documented, but their realisation in the housing system is less well understood. This paper examines the relationship between incomes, access to housing and housing costs among widowed, divorced, separated and never-married single people in Australia. While the relative financial advantages of single men are sustained throughout the housing system, there is some evidence that gender discrepancies in income are reduced once housing costs are taken into account. Lone mothers, however, fare least well, and face a disproportionate loss of disposable income through housing expenditures.