Are Women Empowered to Save?

Authors

  • Frances Woolley Carleton University
  • Taylor Shek-wai Hui Social Research and Demonstration Corporation
  • Carole Vincent Independent consultant

Keywords:

Gender, saving, family decision-making, investment, Género, ahorro, toma de decisiones familiares, inversión

Abstract

Female economic empowerment – rising earnings, increased opportunities, greater labour force participation – has given many women the means to save. The shifting of responsibility for retirement security from employers and governments onto individuals has given women a reason to save. But are women actually saving? In this paper, we explore the relationship between the gender dynamics within a family and the accumulation of wealth. We find that little evidence in support of the conventional wisdom that families with a female financial manager save more and repay their debts more often. We find some evidence that male financial management leads to greater savings, and other evidence suggesting that savings patterns have a complex relationship with intra-family gender dynamics.

El empoderamiento económico de la mujer – el aumento de los ingresos, mayores oportunidades, mayor participación laboral – ha dado a muchas mujeres los medios para ahorrar. Al pasar la responsabilidad de los ingresos de la jubilación de los empleadores y el gobierno a los individuos ha dado a las mujeres un motivo para ahorrar. ¿Pero realmente ahorran las mujeres? En este artículo se analizan las relaciones entre las dinámicas de género en una familia, y la acumulación de riqueza. Se ha llegado a la conclusión de que hay poca evidencia que apoye la creencia convencional de que las familias en las que una mujer gestiona las financias ahorran más y devuelven sus créditos más frecuentemente. Se ha encontrado alguna evidencia de que la gestión financiera por varones acarrea mayores ahorros, y otras evidencias que sugieren que los patrones de ahorro tienen una relación compleja con las dinámicas de género dentro de la familia.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2371112

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Author Biographies

Frances Woolley, Carleton University

Frances Woolley is Associate Dean and Professor of Economics at Carleton University. She has published extensively on the economics of the family, feminist economics and public policy. She has a particular interest in the tax treatment of the family.

Taylor Shek-wai Hui, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation

Researcher in quantitative evaluation of social programms at the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation. Prior to SRDC, Taylor was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Winnipeg. He holds a Ph. D in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Social Research and Demonstration Corporation. 55 Murray Street, Suite 400. Ottawa, Ontario. K1N 5M3

Carole Vincent, Independent consultant

Carole Vincent holds a PhD in Economics from Brown University. She was formerly the Principal Research Associate at the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, and Director of Research at the Institute for Research on Public Policy. She is currently working as an independent consultant, focussing particularly on retirement planning, economic independence for women, and taxation and family policy

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Published

11-05-2013

How to Cite

Woolley, F., Hui, T. S.- wai and Vincent, C. (2013) “Are Women Empowered to Save?”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 3(7), pp. 1249–1272. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/276 (Accessed: 28 March 2024).