Senate inquiry to consider women's super

A Senate inquiry sitting in Adelaide will try to get to the bottom of why women earn around half the superannuation of men.

South Australian Liberal Senator Sean Edwards says the difference is acting as a handbrake on the Australian economy.

If you're a woman you'll probably have around half the superannuation at retirement that you would if you were a man - about $105,000 versus $197,000, Senator Edwards says.

In fact ninety per cent of women will retire with inadequate superannuation and one in five women in the workforce have no super at all."

The Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into women's superannuation will try to find why women are so disadvantaged and what should done about it.

Witnesses appearing on Tuesday include representatives of Industry Super Australia, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, Australian Super and the ANZ bank.