EMPLOYERS should be able to pay women higher rates of superannuation than their male colleagues without breaching anti-discrimination laws, according to the peak body representing the superannuation industry.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) made the call at its recent annual conference as part of several proposals which would help bridge the gender divide which leaves women with around half as much super as men at retirement.

While most employees receive the superannuation guarantee (SG) of 9.5 per cent, women typically retire with significantly less super because they receive lower average salaries even when performing the same work as men, are often employed on a casual or part-time basis, and take time out of the workforce to raise children or care for others.

“Policymakers need to urgently address the issues women have when it comes to their super, otherwise we will have a growing number of women living in poverty when they retire,” ASFA chief executive Pauline Vamos said.

Rice Warner Actuaries became the first employer to pay its female employees an extra 2 per cent super from July 1, 2013 after receiving approval from the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Vamos said such moves by employers should remain voluntary but amending anti-discrimination laws would streamline the process.

“That’s time and money and it’s unnecessary duplication,” she said. “So while there’s a precedent with Rice Warner it still currently requires a separate application.”

Not-for-profit organisation Women in Super supported Rice Warner’s application, which was part of a broader package including more flexible working conditions, generous paid parental leave and long-service leave accrued during parental leave.

“We don’t routinely say every employer should pay more super because there could be difficulties with that in terms of an impost on female employment — it could be a deterrent for female employment in some circumstances,” Women in Super chair Cate Wood said.

ASFA and Women in Super have also backed a number of other measures aimed at bridging the estimated $92,000 super gap between men and women although there remains little interest from the major political parties.

Super is not paid when an employee earns less than $450-per-month, which affects a significant proportion of women in part-time and casual employment. ASFA estimates that 7 per cent of women fell below the minimum SG threshold in 2009-10 compared to 4.9 per cent of males.

“The way the workplace is going, more and more people will have multiple part-time jobs and flexible employment so we can see this becoming an even bigger issue,” Vamos said.

While some employers have chosen to apply super to their own paid parental leave schemes, super still doesn’t apply to the government’s paid parental leave scheme almost four years after its introduction, despite being a recommendation of the Productivity Commission.

However, the government recently backed down on a proposal to scrap the low-income superannuation contribution (LISC) which automatically tops up super with a maximum $500 for individuals earning under $37,000 a year.