Building Financial Literacy, Essential for Women’s Economic Empowerment

While it is important for anyone to understand the current financial landscape in order to make better monetary decisions, it is a particularly important life skill for women in their pathway to economic empowerment. According to existing research, women around the world lag behind men on financial literacy, a key ability to become autonomous and prosperous individuals.

Earning a personal income can increase women’s autonomy and shift power relations at the household level — for example, increasing their control over how money is spent. More than half a billion women have joined the world’s labor force over the past 30 years and they now account for more than 40 percent of workers worldwide, according to the World Bank. This trend, often called the “feminization of labor,” is on the rise in almost all developing regions. Nevertheless, being able to earn an income and having access to credit, aren’t factors which by themselves automatically bring economic empowerment and equal benefits for women.

Empowerment is a multidimensional process that needs to consider a series of economic, political, social and cultural aspects. Women’s economic empowerment involves much more than financial gain; it is about women’s integral well-being, autonomy, it means equality.

Areas in which more women are accessing the labor market don’t guarantee female empowerment. The quality of said employment, equal salary, benefits, social security must also be taken into account. Women’s reality is still marked by inequalities and persistent forms of discrimination.

One of the missing parts of the economic empowerment equation, is providing women with greater financial literacy. Economic growth is not the silver bullet of empowerment if it works in isolation. Women need to learn how to make good financial decisions. It is imperative that any initiative for women’s economic empowerment also considers developing women’s financial literacy.

Therefore, one of my recent projects aims to promote flexible, financial education programs for women which are focused on boosting female financial autonomy and entrepreneurship. My goal is to help build financial capability in an engaging and inspiring way. Allowing women to navigate the financial landscape with greater agency is a way to empower them economically.

Join me in this effort to foster greater financial literacy. Partnerships across sectors are essential to multiply the impact of these initiatives. Collaboration across sectors: financial institutions, impact investors, governments, NGO’s and the corporate world, provide a multi-disciplinary approach and an enriched vision. Women’s economic empowerment through financial literacy is a fertile ground for equality and a wise path towards sustainable development.