Financial Literacy and Women: Overcoming the Barriers

• Main Author: Donohue, Melissa A
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2011
• Subjects: Curriculum; Economics; Education; Financial; Literacy; Women
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/395; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1389&context=open_access_dissertations

Women are facing increasing financial responsibility, while at the same time, the consumer financial world is evolving at an extraordinary pace. These trends make a imperative that we better understand the evolving nature of gender-based inequities across our current socio-economic systems and intentionally examine those areas that are most essential in accelerating the narrowing of these gaps. The results of the study indicate that the assumption can on longer be made that women simply need better financial knowledge in order to reach a certain level of financial behavior, without increased access to capital. This study shows that the re-examination of a key component of financial literacy is necessary: the idea that financial knowledge leads to responsible financial behavior, and that responsible financial behavior is a result of financial knowledge. This finding may indicate that women have different dispositions regarding how they use the financial resources, knowledge, and skills that they have acquired.