New data analysis shows that Australia’s ageing population combined with delayed parenthood is leading women towards a “triple care burden” in middle life.
e61 Institute analysts Pelin Akyol and Rose Khattar say women in their 40s and 50s sandwiched between caring obligations for children and ageing relatives, will also be dealing with their own health needs like menopause or perimenopause, and it’s silently impacting their careers, health and financial futures.
Adding to the problem is the fact that women bear the brunt of caregiving at home.
A longitudinal study of more than 20,000 people recently found that Australian men are not doing any more housework than they were 20 years ago.
The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey report revealed that women do 50 per cent more housework than men in an average week. This is supported by the latest Census, finding that women take on a much bigger share of unpaid care compared to men.
The 2021 Census also revealed a significant gap in informal caregiving between genders.
“The share of women and men providing informal caregiving peaks around the ages of 40 to 44, with looking after children their most common type of caregiving, followed by caring for someone with a disability. For this group, around 80 per cent of women are providing informal caregiving, compared to around 65 per cent of men”, Akyol and Khattar note.
This imbalance forces many women to cut back on work hours, slow their career progression, or even leave the workforce entirely, creating a ripple effect on their earning potential and Australia’s economy.
As Australia’s ageing population grows, there is increasing concern for middle-aged women who will be grappling with the “triple care burden”, which can come with financial penalties like loss in income and reduced work hours.
It can also lead to other challenges.
The ‘motherhood penalty’ is well-documented, but the true economic cost of this triple care burden is far greater and largely unseen.
“The penalty from having children is well documented: women experience a wage loss of around five percent after their first child and nearly double that after two or more children. These penalties accumulate over time through reduced hours, interrupted career patterns, and slower wage growth. When women take on caring roles for other family members, e61 research shows their work hours fall sharply — by almost ten hours per week for those caring for relatives, and by more than twenty hours for those caring for a partner. For men, the reduction in hours is usually temporary; for women, the loss is far more persistent”, say Akyol and Khattar.
Crucially, the impact of perimenopause and menopause on productivity and job retention is rarely measured, yet symptoms like disrupted sleep and concentration have clear implications for women’s ability to juggle these demands, exacerbating gender inequities.
e61 Institute’s analysis shows that the burden of care pushed onto women in their 40s and 50s has risen over the past decade.
The care landscape has fundamentally shifted, with women in their 40s and 50s today now shouldering far more informal care than previous generations.
Data from 2006 to 2021 clearly shows a significant increase in women in this age group caring for both their own children (due to delayed parenthood) and someone with a disability (likely elderly parents, due to an ageing population).
Emerging research is starting to capture the broader impacts of women taking on the burden of unpaid care.
These implications are not just bad for women but they harm the broader economy through loss of productivity and revenue.
Policymakers and leaders today must not continue to ignore the triple care burden.
“The triple care burden matters even more so now for Australia’s economy. Today, women make up a crucial part of Australia’s skilled workforce. If they are cutting back or dropping out of paid work at their career peak, the economy loses experienced talent, firms face higher turnover and recruitment costs, and gender pay gaps widen further”, note Akyol and Khattar.
To maximise women’s full participation in the labour force and ensure Australia’s economic growth, policymakers must urgently invest in better data and research to understand the full impact of the triple care burden, especially the largely ignored dimension of self-care and menopause.