“The Cayman Islands is known as this epicentre of financial services, and yet the financial literacy gap is huge, even among women in the industry,” Jalasjaa says. “People say ‘You work for a hedge fund; you must know about investing.’ And they just nod their head instead of saying ‘No, that’s not what I do. I don’t know anything about that.’ So these women in financial services are actually at an even bigger disadvantage with investing because of their greater fear of speaking up.”
In some countries, culture can get in the way of women’s financial literacy, particularly where learning has not been allowed for the so-called weaker sex. Long-standing traditional structures – where wives may not deal with money the same way their husbands do, for example – can also be a barrier. For Jalasjaa, the challenge is to make people acknowledge that without both partners involved, the family is potentially putting their future at risk.
But across the world, Jalasjaa sees common themes playing out in the broader story of women’s financial literacy gap. Aside from a tendency to put others’ priorities ahead of their own needs, she’s found women are more likely to have little confidence in their ability to invest and understand financial concepts. There’s also a widespread hesitation to speak up and raise questions about money.
“Sixty per cent of women would rather talk about their own death than money,” she says. “So they’re not talking about it with anyone, and they’re embarrassed to even ask a question … they become their own worst enemy, because nothing gets resolved, and it just stays status quo.”
While every country recognizes the importance of ensuring financial resilience among women, the efforts to address the problem so far have been fragmented and piecemeal. Any fundamental shift to solve the problem, Tuula insists, will require a larger combined commitment from both the public sector and private organizations.
