Women lag in financial knowledge but match prudent behaviour

Financial knowledge gaps are statistically significant in 18 of 20 Member States.

Across seven questions, the gender gap reaches 16 percent for investment topics versus 5 percent for everyday finance.

Women are under-represented among top performers everywhere, despite reporting stronger budgeting, bill payment and purchase discipline.

Controlling for personal characteristics, women are 11 percent less likely to be top performers and 4 percent more likely to be low performers.

Higher education corresponds to probabilities 12 percent higher and 8 percent lower, respectively; employment corresponds to 7 percent higher and 6.5 percent lower.

Knowledge also increases with age, with those aged 60 and above tending to score higher.

These estimates are correlational.

Women hold fewer investment products in nine of 20 Member States; resilience is lower in nine countries too.

Models associate a move from zero to maximum knowledge with resilience probabilities rising from 12 to 41 percent and investment ownership from 15 to 44 percent.

Resilience requires covering unexpected costs and at least three months of expenses after job loss.

The survey was coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's financial education network.

The authors' views do not necessarily reflect the European Central Bank (ECB).