This issue has been investigated in finance and gender research for quite some time now. Several studies have revealed that not only do women possess lower financial knowledge compared to men (called the gender knowledge gap), but they also tend to have lower self-confidence in their financial abilities[1].

For instance, on a financial quiz comprising three questions (interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification), women tend to choose ‘I don’t know’. When this option was removed, the same women that chose ‘I don’t know’ earlier, tend to answer correctly. This highlights a gender gap in both financial knowledge as well as confidence. The same phenomenon is noted for men.

A more recent study conducted a similar survey in Japan[2]. They find that women in their sample are more literate in matters relating to household management. They answer correctly on questions that are conceptual and non-mathematical in nature. However, women in their survey are less financially literate on technical finance concepts such as inflation, interest rates and in numerical skills.

The study concludes that this lack of technical understanding explains why women work less towards retirement planning compared to men. In fact, if women possessed the same level of financial literacy as men, they would end up investing much more towards retirement, compared to men.

Overall, women can benefit significantly from financial literacy programs, with particular focus on technical and numerical skills. These, in addition to self-development programs, can help boost self-worth and self-confidence across all areas of life, including financial behaviour.

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[1] Lusardi and Mitchell (2008). “Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?” American Economic Review 98 (2): 413–17.

[2] Iwatsubo et al. (2025). Gender gap in financial literacy–numeracy, financial concepts and retirement financial planning. Finance Research Open, 100054.