Most of us middle class Indians have grown up seeing our mothers functioning as the `finance minister' of the household. Right from balancing monthly spends on essentials such as groceries, electricity, house maintenance, our mothers not only judiciously ran the household like a well-oiled machinery, but were also successful in making small yet substantial savings. Remember the wads of currency stored in grain containers that would act like a contingency fund when required?
While women and their ability to manage household finance has been proven time and again, the same women fall back when it comes to financial literacy. Broadly described as an individual's ability to understand and put to use basic financial skills including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing, financial literacy is a key tool for women's empowerment. Not only does it empower women to be able to gain agency over their life & decisions, but financial literacy also comes-in handy in emergency situations. Research has shown that financial dependency is often a leading cause behind women being stuck in abusive situations.
A large majority of women lack the basic awareness and understanding of finance. Women often shy away from making bigger financial decisions, especially pertaining to investment. There still exists a misguided notion that it is a male's responsibility to take critical financial decisions for a household. According to research, 62 percent of Indian women either do not own a bank account or have limited access to banking services.
Surprisingly, even well-educated and independent women rely on their father, spouse, brothers, and male friends to make critical financial decisions. A small portion of the Indian female population actually have the resources to build wealth. However, only 33 percent women out of this already meager number invest their money with confidence (as opposed to 64 percent men). Women investors are bogged down by lack of confidence; they are often afraid of making poor decisions pertaining to investment. Women also shy away from asking questions because of fear of judgment. It is about time that India collectively takes steps towards empowering its women to gain financial autonomy. Information dissemination and easy access to resources can act as catalysts in bringing about the change.
But we must also strive to break the stereotype that doubts women and their financial capabilities. In order to take a step towards achieving the same, the current edition of Women Entrepreneur magazine presents to you a list of women leaders from the field of finance. Let's get inspired from these women finance leaders to take the control of our purse strings in our fingers. If we will, we sure can!
Do let us know your thoughts.
