Gender inequality is still a societal problem today. Among the many inequalities, there are also gender disparities in investment. Yes, unsurprisingly, women invest less than men, and in the US this is called the Gender Investing Gap.
More seriously, the Gender Investing Gap represents the investment gap between the genders, a phenomenon that has consequences for women and their future. Only 20% of investors are women, compared to 80% of men. This is not due to a lack of interest or motivation, but rather to a deliberate exclusion by history and the entrenchment of a patriarchal system over several centuries. Fortunately, things are changing and the place of women in investment is changing. We tell you all about the Gender Investing Gap!
The Gender Investing Gap simply represents the investment gap between men and women. Indeed, women invest much less than men, by an average of 29 to 40% according to studies (N26 survey in 2022). We'll talk about this below, but if women invest less than men, it's probably because they haven't received the same financial education, and they are less taken into consideration in the finance game.
Plutôt que d’investir, les femmes ont davantage tendance à garder leur argent en liquide ou bien à le placer sur un livret d’épargne. Et en plus d’être moins nombreuses à investir dans le monde de la finance, quand elles investissent, c’est généralement une part moins importante de leur épargne. Elles se dirigent préférablement vers des supports moins risqués, tels que le fonds en euro des assurances-vie, par exemple. Selon une étude menée par J.P Morgan, 79 % des femmes épargnent assidûment tandis que seulement 18 % investissent régulièrement.
Rather than investing, women are more likely to keep their money in cash or put it in a savings account. In addition to being less likely to invest in the financial world, when they do invest, it is generally a smaller part of their savings. They prefer to invest in less risky investments, such as the euro fund in life insurance policies, for example. According to a study conducted by J.P Morgan, 79% of women save regularly while only 18% invest regularly.
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France and the UK rank last with a low share of women investors of 50% compared to 71% for Germany and Austria, in first position. |
Obviously, the primary cause of this investment gap is the gender pay gap. It is no secret that women earn on average less than men. According to INSEE, 'in 2021, women's average wage income is 24% lower than men's in the private sector. This gap primarily reflects differences in the volume of annual work, as women are both less frequently employed during the year and more often work part-time. However, for the same working hours, women's average salary is 15% lower than that of men.
In the end, a lower salary means less money to invest. But this is not the only reason for the Gender Investing Gap and its consequences...
Another reason why women invest less than men? They have simply not always been invited to do so. It was only in 1965 that women were allowed to open a bank account on their own, without prior authorisation from their husband or father. It was not until 1967 that women had THE RIGHT to enter the Paris stock exchange, before which they were forbidden to set foot on it. So it hasn't been that long since women have been able to invest.
Men and women have different ways of approaching the issue of investment depending on their upbringing and the way they have been socialised. According to the Observatoire de la Parité dans la Presse, women will represent only 1% of media interventions on financial and investment issues in 2021. Women do not identify with the kind of discourse that men have on this subject, which is approached as a "hobby" and a way to get rich quickly.
Non-investor women generally think that :
Lack of self-confidence also holds many women back from investing.
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