When it comes to financial success, the status of women in the workplace has taken on a whole new identity in the past couple of decades alone. With female financial empowerment on the rise in a wide spectrum of industries, the need for a good mentor becomes increasingly influential to personal and professional development. 

To be clear, female financial empowerment is the movement that advocates for fiscal sovereignty for all women, through the generation of local jobs and business opportunities. This is a form of freedom required in order to reach their own professional growth while being self-sustaining. So the mentor, in this case, is someone who plays an active role in creating a positive work environment and provides guidance to women in the process. Part of the reason why this position is so timely to understand is associated with the fight against deeper systemic discrimination. 

This post is about breaking down key stats behind the fight for financial fairness in America, and what we can do with this information to become better mentors. 

4 Statistics on Women’s Participation in Financial Freedom

Only about 15 men manage the family’s expenses in their daily lives, and yet close to 90 percent of them manage most long term savings.

As a mentor, you want to always ensure that the women who you are working with have tools and resources to guide them into financial freedom. One good way to do this is through creating a debt-payment tracker on Excel or Google Sheets. If so many women already do this on smaller scales and for others around them, then doing it for their own futures is even more vital to their success.

About 33 percent of the gender gap in financial literacy is associated with lower confidence, rather than actual competency. 

This is huge. We all know that confidence and ability go hand in hand. Confidence plays a significant role in building up financial literacy, and yet many women often receive little encouragement around this topic. That is where you, the mentor, come in. Building women up and making sure that they receive positive feedback and constructive criticism delivered in a healthy way, are all key to raising confidence levels. 

Globally, men hold 8 percent more accounts than women in banks and other financial institutions. 

We need to incentivize women to open more bank accounts, take more calculated risks, and feel safe and empowered to do so. Opening more accounts means higher chances of increasing their credit score. This means more opportunities for loan approvals for that business idea they’ve been planning for so long, or buying a house or a car, the list goes on. One good way to do this is by looking at what the goals are with opening the account, whether it be savings or credit building, and finding the right financial institution for the job. 

There is an 80 percent increased chance that women will face economic instability starting at 65 years or older. 

Financial instability can start at a young age, but it doesn’t stop there. As mentors, what you are doing for your mentees will probably impact them for the rest of their lives. This is no joke. So keep this in mind to help you remain committed to the growth and financial independence of the women who work with you. 

When it comes to accessing financial information, it’s important to know what resources are available to offer for support. Companies like Possible allow individuals from underrepresented backgrounds gain financial health through the opportunity to go after their professional growth.

Special thanks to Possible Finance for providing this infographic!

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