A Study on Barriers affecting Financial Literacy of Working Women In Punjab

Financial literacy is getting universal recognition all over the world. Despite of the fact that India has large population, fast growing economy, there is a dire need of vibrant and stable financial system. Thus to formulate and implement national strategy, financial education or financial literacy for women has gained greater importance in recent years. Women‟s financial potential is not up to the mark due to lack of confidence with regard to money management and investment avenues. Women do not understand the financial matters as their spouse understand. Literature reveals that women are risk averse than men. Due to this reason success of women reduces in financial markets. Most of the women are more conservative investor than men and they choose investment options with lower risks and hence they earn lower expected returns. Earlier surveys suggest that wealth holdings of single women are less risky than those of single men of having equal economic status. Today‟s Women is very empowered and educated, so she must have the knowledge of all tools and resources to do best by attaining their financial potential. So an effort has been made in this paper to collect information from previous research published worldwide to elaborate views regarding barriers of financial literacy for working women that influence financial literacy. Earlier researches depict the effect of personal, Social and cultural and financial barriers. This paper focuses on the basic background of barriers affecting financial literacy on the basis of reviews from recent studies.