Women are key assets of any nation or community. Not only do they put together the building blocks of a family but their work also extends to building any community and country as a whole.
For the longest time, women played the martyr and sacrificed their dreams for the greater good of the family. But times have changed. Today, more and more women are striving to build successful and independent lives for themselves. They dream, they have aspirations and they are willing to work hard to achieve their goals.
A national survey by IndiaLends, delved deeper to understand the various motivations behind women wanting to work. The study unearthed that women working in Delhi NCR aspire to work to achieve value, confidence, and above all, ‘Financial Freedom’.
The survey says, around 70 per cent of working women in the country run their families and pay for home expenditures. In addition to that, "Financial Freedom" has been the top priority for working women in Delhi, which is followed by the need to be valuable and confident and grow their self-esteem.
Women across the country share the same reasons which are followed up by fulfilling the requirements of family and households. In Delhi, over 47 per cent of working women find many obstacles to regularly managing their expenses, while 37 per cent of working women either don't know the procedure or have never attempted to check their credit scores.
What does the #WorkingStree Survey say?
The fifth edition of the #WorkingStree Survey mentioned some findings from IndiaLends, an online marketplace for personal loans and credit cards. The study states that women in the nation's capital choose a distinctive strategy for achieving financial independence and making decisions. About 10,000+ working women between the ages of 21 and 65 who hail from metro, Tier-1, and Tier-2 cities participated in the poll, which was conducted online in February 2023. 10 per cent of the respondents of the poll were from Delhi-NCR.
The poll shows that 2/3 of working women in Delhi (67 per cent) have actively contributed to their house expenses, and 31 per cent of these women spend more than half of their salary on their households. Over 70 per cent of working women in the nation make their contributions to household expenses.
What does Financial Freedom Mean?
Financial Freedom is a word that has a great impact and is the top driving force for working women in Delhi which is also followed by the need to fulfill the desire to be valuable and grow self-confidence. Women all over the nation have the same reasons to fulfill their family’s requirements and become a reason to lead their households.
The survey also found that 32 per cent of women who belongs to Delhi find difficulties to make financial decisions on savings and investment. This has been a national trend, where many women ask help from their father, brother, or husband for advice when making some financial decisions.
The founder and CEO of IndiaLends, Gaurav Chopra, mentioned in a statement that "financial independence for women is not just bound to social responsibility but also it is crucial for their economic progress. The findings of the survey show that women in Delhi still need to work a lot to become more financially independent.
Percentage of Women working on their Financial Independence
About two-thirds of Delhi's female population have checked their credit score, there is still a long way to go before they are capable of keeping a continuous track of ongoing spending and making their own financial decisions.
According to the report, over half of working women in the country have learned about personal finance through social media, about 30 per cent of them have learned through news articles, 20 per cent through workshops and seminars, and 20 per cent through professional experts. About one-third of the females comfortably handle all of their financial decisions, despite their efforts to take control of all of their finances.
In the survey of #WorkingStree from IndiaLends, the respondents aged between 25 to 34 made up the total sample of 47.7 per cent, followed by the respondents aged between 35 to 44 at 30.8 per cent. Whereas the youngest age group of 21 to 24 represented 13.7 per cent of the sample. The respondents over 45 were 7.8 per cent.
Now in terms of profession, the respondents were, salaried employees make up to 43.6 per cent, self-employed make up to 31.3 per cent, homemakers make up to 12.3 per cent, and professionals like lawyers, and CAs make up 4.4 per cent.
