Icon: enlarge
Trader on the New York Stock Exchange (archive image): Gap in self-confidence?
Photo: Courtney Crow / AP
When it comes to investing money in the stock market, women are often more cautious than men - according to a recent study, they do not lack the necessary knowledge in financial matters, but rather self-confidence.
In two thirds of the cases, lower financial literacy among women can be traced back to actual knowledge gaps, "on the other hand a third is related to their own self-doubts in relation to financial knowledge and decision-making," explained the ZEW Mannheim.
The Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) interviewed women in a joint study (here you can find the original as PDF) with researchers from Washington and Groningen, among other things, on the terms compound interest, inflation and risk diversification - with different possible answers.
According to ZEW, respondents tended to choose the answer option “don't know” when asked about their financial knowledge “disproportionately often”.
However, if this was not available on the scale, they often chose the correct answer.
"This suggests a gap in self-confidence and less in knowledge," explained the researchers.
"In order to close the gap between women and men when it comes to participation in the stock market, not only do women have to increase their financial knowledge, but also their trust in their own competence in making financial decisions," said study author Tabea Bucher-Koenen from ZEW, referring to the relevant educational programs .
According to the research center, the discrepancy would "shrink considerably if women had just as much confidence in their financial education as men".
Icon: The mirror
mic / afp
