Gender Gaps in Financial Literacy: Evidence from Argentina, Chile and Paraguay

Abstract

Understanding why women are less financially literate than men is crucial for developing effective policies that decrease gender inequalities and improve women’s financial literacy, agency, and empowerment. Accordingly, this article adopts a multidimensional approach to measuring financial literacy in developing countries, aggregating three key components of financial literacy, namely financial behavior, financial attitude, and financial knowledge. Using data from Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, the study finds that there are statistically significant gender differences in these countries, which is confirmed, except in the case of Chile, by an extensive econometric analysis. In turn, a traditional Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition indicates, when considering the three countries as a whole, that 56 percent of the gap can be attributed to unexplained factors, while 44 percent to differences in observable characteristics, implying that men’s rates of return on human capital components, in a broad sense, are significantly different from those experienced by women. HIGHLIGHTS A comprehensive approach to financial literacy in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay assesses gender differences in financial behavior, financial attitude, and financial knowledge. Financial literacy is relatively low across all three countries. In Argentina and Paraguay, the gender gap in financial literacy is driven by financial knowledge. Education and income are the largest contributors to the variance in financial literacy.