Before she fell pregnant, Aneeta Clark was working hard to build a career in Darwin's hospitality scene, putting away savings and enjoying her independence.
All that changed when she had her son, Chesney.
"It's a bit of a financial shock," Ms Clark said.
"You lose your disposable income if you're lucky enough to have one, you're financially dependent then on a spouse or the government and you've still got a mortgage to pay or rent."
In another blow to Ms Clark's hip pocket, she's set to join nearly 15,000 mothers in the Northern Territory who have lost millions of dollars in retirement savings over the past 10 years, according to the latest analysis by Industry Super Australia.
That's because the federal government does not pay superannuation on its parental leave scheme.
"I'm very grateful for the paid parental leave scheme, but after four months I think it is very difficult to launch straight back into work," Ms Clark said.
Georgia Brumby, director of advocacy at Industry Super Australia, said its impact on Territory mothers was "pretty shocking".
"The NT does have quite a significant gender super gap, with women retiring with about 30 per cent less than men," she said.
The super giant's analysis shows the omission of superannuation from the Commonwealth's parental leave scheme means NT mothers have collectively missed out on more than $16 million over the past decade.
In the Solomon electorate, up to 8,930 women lost $10 million from their super, and in Lingiari, 5,660 working mums lost $6.3 million.
In the 2019-20 financial year, 1,655 Territory women missed out on $2.1 million in super contributions, the data shows.
The data also shows it is overwhelmingly women who are taking the biggest hit to their super balance, as more than 99 per cent of people who accessed the Commonwealth parental leave scheme in the NT were women.
"They shouldn't have to sacrifice their retirement savings to take time out of the workforce to raise babies."
Women without enough super face poverty in old age
In Australia, women aged 55 years and older make up the fastest growing group of people experiencing homelessness, according to the 2016 Census.
Dr Angela Jackson, lead economist at Impact Economic and Policy, said this was largely because women accrued less superannuation than men over their lifetime.
"Women earn lower wages throughout their working lives," she said.
"They also have gaps or time off, particularly around having children, and they don't receive superannuation during that period."
Dr Jackson said it was reasonable to demand the Commonwealth include superannuation payments as part of its parental leave scheme.
"This leave to have young children and to have babies is a workplace entitlement, and it needs to be viewed like other workplace entitlements and have superannuation attached to it," she said.
"One in three women actually retire with no super at all.
"It used to be, 'Don't worry about it because you'll have a husband, you'll have a man to support you', but obviously for many women, that's not the case."
Dr Jackson said around half of marriages in Australia now ended in divorce, pushing a growing number of women who sacrificed their salaries to have children into financial hardship.
Commonwealth has no plans to include super in scheme
In a statement to the ABC, Superannuation Minister Jane Hume said the federal government had no plans to include superannuation in its paid parental leave scheme ahead of the upcoming election.
She said the Commonwealth government had already made changes to the scheme in 2020 that made it easier for Australian families to choose how they split parental leave for primary and secondary carers.
"Given the disruptions to Australia's workforce due to COVID-19, we have not seen the full impact of these reforms since they were proclaimed," she said.
"It would be remiss of this government to make further changes without proper consideration of the changes already made."
In the meantime, Territory mothers such as Ms Clark will have to continue a delicate balancing act of raising their kids and planning for their retirement.
"I'm a little bit concerned, thinking about the future and what I can do to make sure I stay financially secure," she said.
