Women with dependent children have significantly less life insurance cover than their male counterparts – and the industry needs to do a better job dispelling myths about the cost of life insurance to ensure women are adequately covered, according to the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA).

Research by TNS Australia for the association has found only 20% of full-time working women with dependent children have enough insurance to cover their income for three or more years. The life insurance benchmark is 10 times annual salary.

The research found nearly 50% of full-time working mothers believe the cost of the cover is their greatest barrier in underinsurance.

IFSA CEO Richard Gilbert says the industry needs to be more diligent in dispelling the widely held belief that life insurance for mothers is too expensive. “I think it’s more a case of mothers being undervalued and underinsured, because term life cover for up to $700,000 can be bought for around $1 a day.”

About 50% of mothers have life insurance, compared to 62% of fathers, according to IFSA. But women are likely to hold the cover through their super fund, which is highly unlikely to be adequate in meeting their family’s needs unless extra units of insurance cover are purchased.

“I think that when you look at what it can cost to raise children and run a household in the absence of a mother, a dollar a day to insure a woman with dependent children is really very affordable,” Mr Gilbert said.