Are Women Not Capable Of Financial Responsibility?

I know the question is a bit triggering. But I read something recently and it just naturally came to my mind.

“𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭. 𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭.” –

𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

It’s been years of being in the Advertising and Marketing space but the number of financial institutions I have worked with are few and far. I am being honest here. I remember a meeting with an Insurance company and they said 95% of our audience is men and we aren’t considering speaking at women-led platforms. I wondered why. 

The BFSI segment is one of the largest digital spenders in the country and why is it that it is all directed towards men? Let me give you a minute to recollect which was the last advertisement you saw of a banking/finance ad that had the woman talk facts. Nada!

A Kantar report said: Financial services organisations could be missing out on a £130bn opportunity – by not winning over women. Of course, this was a UK study but I am sure it may not be very different for India.

Kantar’s Winning Over Women report suggests that UK financial institutions are failing to connect with female customers at every stage of

1. The buying journey, from advertising to offerings – and losing out as a result.

2. Advertising fails to communicate core tenets of ‘trustworthiness’, ‘understanding’, ‘dependability’, and ‘accessibility’ to women and solicits positive responses from women less often than from men.

3. This has led to lower rates of savings among women… but presents a significant business opportunity for banks.

Financial security comes from feeling in control and – only 38% of women claim to feel ‘in control of their financial future’ compared to 51% of men. Look around yourselves.

How many women in your friend and family circle accept that they understand and take responsibility for family finances or are ready to share their learnings and expertise? Very few.

It is a worthwhile investment by financial institutions because when women are satisfied with the product and communication they build:

• Long-lasting relationships with female clients because satisfied female clients are twice as likely as men to recommend their bank based on recent transactions.
• Women are also more responsible borrowers than men, taking a more conservative approach to home ownership, such as deposit requirements, monthly affordability and extra costs.
  
  The most important line in the study that caught my eye was, “𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.”

DBS Women & Finance Report Findings

According to a DBS Bank Report titled Women & Finance:

– Across India, women predominantly, prioritise three main financial objectives: children’s education, home acquisition, and wealth accumulation.

– For women aged 25-35 years, buying a home is a top priority, while in the next cohort of 36-45 years, it changes to children’s education. For those over 45 years, medical care becomes the topmost priority, revealed the survey.

I wish to see more financial institutions pitching to women and including this very vital segment in their marketing strategies. Women in India may not have grown to be the financial decision-makers, but they are growing to be. And if financial institutions aren’t taking advantage of this, they are seriously lagging behind.

Why Are We Ignoring Women?

Think of it- generations ago our grandmoms with very limited financial knowledge were the ones who knew how to save money from monthly expenses, not indulge in lavish investments, and could still provide the right environment for our parents to live and thrive. Why then do we undermine and ignore women, even after so many years? 

I know the question is a bit triggering. But I read something recently and it just naturally came to my mind.

The question we must ask is- What keeps women away from formal banking?

There are many reasons for this:
– 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞.
– 𝐈𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
– 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥.

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑚𝑎𝑠?
𝑁𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.

The problem today is that there are many schemes and benefits for women in the financial landscape, but the women themselves aren’t aware of them. Because most of the dialogues are happening with men. Even the conversations directed towards women are sadly, happening through men.

This brings me back, full circle to my question- Are women not capable of financial Responsibility? What are your thoughts on this?

As a parent- SAHM or working mom- what are the changes that you would want to bring about in your financial lives as well as in the society? Talk to me in the comments below.