There are many suggestions on how to stop bias that affects women, ranging from enforced equality in pay to bias training for financial advisors. This is a benefit to our female clients as, according to Merrill Lynch, women are willing to take on more investment risk, and take more control of their finances, when working with females 4. And second, our management team is 57% female. First, women have always represented a large percentage of the education community that we serve, so we are more aware of their needs. Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias impacts every aspect of a woman’s finances – from the amount she earns to how she invests.Īt Educators Financial Group, we have a unique understanding of the financial challenges that women may face for two reasons. They see themselves as more risk-averse and less likely to use DIY or self-knowledge channels to invest 5. 68% of Canadian women rate their financial knowledge as fair or poor, as compared to 57% of men. Studies show that some Canadian women consider themselves to be less confident in making investment decisions and less knowledgeable about financial terminology than men. Furthermore, many of these biased assumptions went unnoticed by the clients.īias can also be exhibited by women themselves. Advisors made much more eye contact with a man and generally “ assumed the man was the decision maker, assumed the woman wanted direction, assumed the couple’s finances were merged, assumed that the woman was more risk-averse, and assumed women are less knowledgeable than men about investing” 4. When it comes to wealth management, bias can be seen both in the assumptions that others make about women and in the way women perceive themselves.Ī Merrill Lynch study of financial professionals’ attitudes towards women showed that financial advisors assumed men were the decision makers. In almost all Canadian universities, male professors earn more than their female counterparts 3. Five years later, they make 25% less than men across all disciplines 2. One year after graduating from post-secondary education, women earn an average of $5,700, or 12%, less than men. The gap is wider for Indigenous or racialized women, newcomers, or those living with a disability 1. Canadian women working full-time make less than men: an average of 76.8 cents for every dollar men make, to be precise.
What evidence do we have that gender affects women financially? One of the most obvious signs is the gender pay gap.
As a professional in the financial industry, and as a woman, it’s clear to me that gender bias has affected women’s finances for a long time, and that it continues to do so today.