International Women's Day: Building savings buffer tops financial priority list for women

Today is International Women’s Day and the theme for this year is #BreakTheBias. The aim is to raise awareness to the current inequalities faced by women worldwide, and to strive towards achieving a gender equal world - a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

In light of this, fintech lender Plenti has conducted a survey of more than 2,200 participants to understand women’s financial priorities for the year.

The findings of this survey show that the financial goals of men and women vary most prior to women having children, whereas after, women’s financial goals tend to align more closely with those of men.

According to Plenti, prior to having children:

• Women were less concerned with men when acquiring or repaying a mortgage (33% vs 41%)

• Women considered building a nest egg as a greater priority than men did (39% vs 32%)

• Women were twice as likely as men to prioritise saving for a big purchase (17% vs 8%)

• Women were more concerned than men about reliance on debt (22% vs 13%)

In contrast, after having children, women's financial priorities began to align more closely with those of men:

• Women and men were equally concerned about acquiring or repaying a mortgage (45% for both)

• Women and men were equally concerned about planning for a major purchase (15% for both)

• Women still prioritised building a nest egg more than men but both numbers decreased (19% vs 13%)

Where to next? Thinking about diversity

The need for diversity and equal rights between the genders is also very important in businesses. According to management consultants McKinsey, “analysis reaffirms the strong business case for both gender diversity and ethnic and cultural diversity in corporate leadership.”

Furthermore, findings show that the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability. McKinsey’s research shows that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.

In addition, McKinsey found that companies with more than 30% women executives were more likely to outperform companies with 10-30%. They also found there is a difference of 48% likelihood of performance between the most and least gender diverse companies.

These stats support the importance of International Women’s Day and just how important gender diversity and equality is in all aspects of life.

Women playing a central role in our economy

Chief executive of UBank and 86 400, Philippa Watson agrees that women play a vital role in business and in the economy.  “This International Women’s Day, I’m reflecting on the central role women play in our economy and in the financial stability of our communities” she says.

“I’m positive about where the next five years will take us as an industry. Our focus is on using technology and digital innovation to place transparency and control into the hands of our customers, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work alongside dozens of women who are playing an important role in this work.”

To learn more about women’s experience and challenges with money once having children, check out Mozo’s Pink Recession Report.