Statistics show that women will earn far less than men over their lives. They will retire with less superannuation and fewer assets than their male counterparts.
To some extent these issues are structural, and are being addressed by a range of organisations and the government. One of the things we also know is that in spite of many women having skills to budget and manage a range of financial opportunities, for many women their self-efficacy with their own financial literacy is low.
This year, ANZ’s financial literacy survey revealed that, on average, women scored lower than men within the realm of financial knowledge and numeracy. From the age of 28, women are less likely to have identified a retirement income figure, have lower levels of household income and superannuation, and have fewer savings and investments than men.
Women have the skills; they know how to budget and save. We also know women learn about things very easily – research shows women and girls excel at teaching themselves in this arena. What women appear to lack is the confidence to make financial decisions.
The question that Girl Guides asks is this: how can we make a difference and help in this area of girls’ and women’s lives? In our role in the Australian community how can we encourage and empower the next generation of women to make the right decisions for their financial future?
I often get asked about how a traditional organisation like Girl Guides is adapting. The simple answer is, Guiding – as a girl-led organisation – has been adapting since we started in 1909. We know that for our organisation to remain sustainable, we need to ensure that we are listening to the needs of our girls, our community and families.
What we know is that our community is asking us to help develop financial literacy skills and our girls want to have a fun engaging time with friends. A frightening tension to reconcile perhaps, but one we think can be achieved through our program and targeted clever learning opportunities.
With that in mind, Girl Guides Australia is launching a new Financial Literacy Program supported by Financial Literacy Australia. Delivery is split into two different age groups: seven to twelve and eighteen to thirty-five and will contain fun and relevant activities that will be driven by the Girl Guide method – small group work that is “girl-led and “at the girls’ pace”, primacy on experience, community practical application and, values based.
For the older age range, the program will be a peer educator model, driven by personal circumstance. Things such as at taking out a mobile phone contract for the first time, getting a car loan or entering a rental agreement will be explored as well as investing for the future with superannuation.
Girls aged seven to twelve will be identifying more basic financial principles, simple things like the value of a dollar. They’ll be exploring real examples of what happens when you put money in and take money out of a bank account. Through our informal education model, the program will be delivered to guides as fun and interesting with activities and games designed to educate whilst also being enjoyable.
The other thing we’ll tackle is the perception of saving money as boring.
This becomes a real challenge considering the glitz and Gruen transfer of shopping centres, as well as the high number of modern role models for young people who are successful because of superficialities, rather than who they are.
Role models for a successful future predicated on making effective decisions at the right time, rather than expenditure ability, simply aren’t there, or aren’t heard.
We will not judge her for what she spends her money on (she gets enough of that already), but give her an understanding that she is empowered – she has a moment of choice – to make a decision that will impact her future. We want her to realise the power of those decisions.
Girl Guides Australia wants to fill this space, empowering girls and young women to listen to their internal compass. Through the Financial Literacy Program we will encourage them to connect that same activity to themselves as individuals, to understand they don’t need bling to be a good person. If the Financial Literacy Program can inform and empower girls and young women to take control of their financial success, then our job is done.