The Gender Gap in Financial Competences (original) (raw)
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What Explains the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy? The Role of Household Decision Making
Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2012
Research has shown that financial illiteracy is widespread among women, and that many women are unfamiliar with even the most basic economic concepts needed to make saving and investment decisions. This gender gap in financial literacy may contribute to the differential levels of retirement preparedness between women and men. However, little is known about the determinants of the gender gap in financial literacy. Using data from the RAND American Life Panel, we examined potential explanations for the gender gap including the role of marriage and division of financial decision-making among couples. We found that differences in the demographic characteristics of women and men did not explain much of the financial literacy gap, whereas education, income and current and past marital status reduced the observed gap by around 25%. Oaxaca decomposition revealed the great majority of the gender gap in financial literacy is not explained by differences in covariates -characteristics of men and women -but due to coefficients, or how literacy is produced. We did not find strong support for specialization in financial decision-making within couples by gender. Instead, we found that decision-making within couples was sensitive to the relative education level of spouses for both women and men.
The Effect of Gender on Financial Literacy
Finans Ekonomi ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2020
Financial literacy is the ability of an individual to take informed decisions on basic financial practices. Financial literacy is essential not only for the individual but also for the development of the markets of a country. In order to develop the markets of a country, education has to be provided to everyone starting from the individuals with the lowest position. Thus, providing quality finance education contributes to the development of both the individual and the economy of the concerned country. This study investigates the relation between financial literacy level and gender of individuals. It was attempted to determine whether gender affects the level of financial literacy and what is the extent of this effect. In order to test this relation, an online survey was applied to 602 people living in Turkey with a randomly selected sample. A regression analysis was conducted with the obtained data to determine the existence of the relation and the Anova analysis was conducted additionally. Then, the direction and level of the data were found by the correlation analysis. The study found out which gender had more sufficient financial knowledge and determined the gender of the individuals who needed to receive finance education. In addition, the investment knowledge of men and women were compared and the effect of gender difference on financial literacy was determined. As a result of the analyses, it was concluded that gender has no significant effect on financial literacy, that the financial literacy is affected by financial education and that there will not be any difference between men and women if women are educated and equipped with financial information as a part of the society.
What Explains the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy?
2012
Using newly collected data from the RAND American Life Panel, we examine potential explanations for the gender gap in financial literacy, including the role of marriage and who within a couple makes the financial decisions. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition reveals the majority of the gender gap in financial literacy is not explained by differences in the characteristics of men and women-but rather differences in coefficients, or how literacy is produced. We find that financial decision making of couples is not centralized in one spouse although it is sensitive to the relative education level of spouses.
The Financial Literacy Gender Gap: A Question of Nature or Nurture?
2015
This paper empirically investigates the role of nurture for the frequently reported differences in financial knowledge between women and men and uses a quasi-experimental framework comparing individuals who live in a matrilineal with those in a patriarchal environment in India. The results of our empirical analyses show that women, on average, are less likely to know about different financial instruments and practices than men. In contrast, no differences in financial knowledge between women and men exist in the matrilineal cultural environment. Matrilineal women are also more financially literate than women who live in patriarchal regions. Education, English language skills and the use of different information sources like TV and radio explain a large part of these differences in financial knowledge among women. Although considering a number of important variables, the results of a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition show that a sizable portion of the differences in financial knowledge re...
How financially literate are women? Some new perspectives on the gender gap*
2012
Ben Rump and Audrey Brown for their excellent research and editorial assistance, and Mijke van den Broeke and two anonymous referees for their feedback. They are also grateful to the participants at the FCAC-OECD conference on financial literacy, held in Toronto in May 2011, and at the Netspar conference on Pension Communication and Choices, held in The Hague in April 2012, for their comments. Financial support from Netspar is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of De Nederlandsche Bank. Any errors are solely the authors' responsibility.
A Financial Literacy Measure: Gendering and Contextualising Financial Technicalities
This article analyses the relationship between law, gender, and finance, with a particular focus on gender inequalities in the financial literacy measure which was constructed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It seeks to trouble predominant claims about financial literacy as an effective, 'edu-regulatory' policy to address gender inequalities in the financial services market. The article suggests that instead of acting as a neutral assessment of people's financial literacy, the measure, in fact, embodies gendered assumptions about finance and financial practices. The measure presents a financial world in abstract terms and fails to account for different contexts within which financial decisions are made. The article exposes the measure's problematic deployment of the literacy/illiteracy binary in thinking about financial gender inequalities. Rather than being attentive to the ways in which gender inequalities are produced in financial markets, the OECD measure misattributes these to irrational financial behaviour, and further reproduces the marginalisation of women in the global financial market.
Using newly collected data from the RAND American Life Panel, we examine potential explanations for the gender gap in financial literacy, including the role of marriage and who within a couple makes the financial decisions. Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition reveals the majority of the gender gap in financial literacy is not explained by differences in the characteristics of men and women—but rather differences in coefficients, or how literacy is produced. We find that financial decision making of couples is not centralized in one spouse although it is sensitive to the relative education level of spouses. Women tend to live longer than men, have shorter work tenures, lower earnings and levels of pension or survivors' benefits. These factors put women at higher risk than men of having financial problems (e.g., Weir and Willis 2000) and of approaching retirement with insufficient savings. Unmarried, particularly divorced, women near retirement age have substantially lower wealth levels than married couples and unmarried men, and the difference is only partially explained by lower levels of permanent earnings and labor force attachment (Levine, Michell, and Phillips 2002; Zissimopoulos, Karney, and Rauer 2008). Contributing to low wealth levels of divorced women compared to men near retirement may be a lack of adequate financial literacy. There is a burgeoning literature documenting low levels of financial literacy population-wide and the relationship between literacy and savings behavior (e.) document that financial illiteracy is even more prevalent among women than men. Zissimopoulos, Karney, and Rauer (2008) found that less than 20% of middle-aged college-educated women were able to answer a basic compound interest question compared to about 35% of college-educated males of the same age. Chen and Volpe (2002) find similar gender differences at younger ages.
DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES Culture, Gender, and Financial Literacy
2022
Any of the and of IZA. in series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. aims to answers to the global labor challenges of our time. Our key objective to build between academic research, policymakers and ABSTRACT Using a nationally representative US sample of 9,623 adults from 27 countries of ancestries, we find that the higher the degree of gender convergence in financial knowledge in the country of ancestry, the higher the financial knowledge of women in the US relative to their male counterparts. After ruling out gender differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills as potential mechanisms, we find that higher patience and lower altruism in the country of ancestry are associated with greater financial knowledge for men but not for women in the US. Once we remove any country-of-ancestry gender variation from these preferences, gender convergence in fi...
Gender Gap in Financial Knowledge,Financial Attitude and Financial Behavior
2018
Research on differences in men and women in term of financial behavior has long been studied, especially with the development of gender equality issues. This study aims to determine differences in men and women in the Indonesian border region in terms offinancial knowledge, financial attitude and financial management behavior. This research is conducted in Merauke, border area of Indonesia. The questionnaire was used to collect the data. The sample of the study was 382 respondents and the data analysis applied chi square. The results show that there were no differences between men and women in, financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial management behavior. Financial attitude in terms of obsession shows women rely more on money than men and in terms of cash management women show better abilities. This study has two implications, (1) gender equality has touched financial aspects (2) there is no difference between financial knowledge, financial attitude, and financial manag...