A STUDY ON FINANCIAL LITERACY ON FINANCIALLY

EXCLUDED WOMEN

ABSTRACT:

The lower level of financial literacy is one of the greatest concerns for Indian women since
independence. Although our country has made noteworthy progress in this area but still a lot
needs to be improved. To assess the financial literacy level of women, we conduct a survey
for which, a questionnaire is prepared and distributed among the working women in the
district of Coimbatore. On the basis of these responses, we assess the financial literacy level
of women based on their financial knowledge, attitude and behavior relating to their personal
finances. The results of the survey show that the general awareness about financial planning
tools and techniques among women remains poor even today, in 21st century. The findings
suggest that women have performed comparatively better in terms of financial attitude and
behavior as compared to financial knowledge score. Also, the single women outperform
married women in terms of their financial literacy score.

Keywords: Financial Literacy, financial literacy score.

INTRODUCTION:

The objective of conduct of financial literacy camps is to facilitate financial inclusion through
provision of two essentials i.e. literacy and easy access. It should aim at imparting knowledge
to enable financial planning, inculcate saving habits and improve the understanding of
financial products. Financial literacy should help them plan ahead of time for their life cycle
needs and deal with unexpected emergencies without resorting to debt. They should be able
to proactively manage money and avoid debt traps. In order to ensure that the knowledge
provided through awareness results in inculcating banking habits, literacy inputs need to be
synchronized with access to financial services so as to enable the common man to use the
information effectively to gain control over financial matters. It should also result in
enhancement of their economic security aided by use of banking services.

Objectives:

• To determine the financial planning of a small population in a particular area

 • To inculcate the saving habits of a small population of people in a particular
area

• To determine the spending rank and their spending behaviour of a small

particular area

• To determine the effective use of financial services on a particular area on

small population

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY:

The study adopted both descriptive and exploratory research methods. Data extraction from the
women entrepreneurs in the utility services business is collected through a structured
questionnaire. For the purpose of survey, women entrepreneurs are met in person. The sample is
collected only from the particular part of the city, by notifying the prominent places in the city.
The equal distribution is not ensured and location importance or priority is not given. The time,
cost and proximity to the topic is considered while collecting the data. Interview schedule has
been arranged to collect the data.

Statistical tools used: Percentage Analysis, Chi- Square Test.

RESULTS:
Percentage Analysis:

Table 1 Women having bank account of their own

bank account Frequency Percent

No 17 28.3
Yes 43 71.7
Total 60 100.0
From the above table it can be inferred that 71.7% of the respondents are women’s having a
bank account and 28.3% of the respondents are women don’t have bank account

Table 2 Women’s habits on budgeting maintenance

budget Frequency Percent

maintenance
no 37 61.7
yes 23 38.3
Total 60 100.0
From the above table it can be inferred that 61.7% of the respondents are women who don’t
have the habit creating a budget and 38.3% of the respondents are women who have the habit
of having creating a budget

Chi- Square Test:

a) Chi-square test for type of income and bank account

Null hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between place of employment and
travel.

Alternate hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between place of employment

and travel.

Table value: 5% or 0.05

Output:

Table 4.2.1 TYPE OF INCOME AND BANK ACCOUNT

x2 or Table Significant
Chi-square statistic value value (p)

Pearson Chi-Square 0.05 0.19

N of Valid Cases 60

Interpretation:

From the above table, it is interpreted that the significant value 0.19 is greater than
the table value 0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternate hypothesis is accepted
stating that, there exists a significant relationship between type of income and bank
account

b) Chi-square test for number of person in family and number of persons having
bank account

Null hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between employed persons and
travelling frequency.
Alternate hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between employed persons and
travelling frequency.

Table value: 5% or 0.05

Output:

Table 4.2.2 number of person in family and number of persons having bank account

x2 or Table Significant
Chi-square statistic value value (p)

Pearson Chi-Square 0.05 0.251

N of Valid Cases 60

Interpretation:

From the above table, it can be interpreted that the significant value 0.251 is greater
than the table value 0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternate hypothesis is
accepted stating that, there exists a significant relationship between number of person in
family and number of persons having bank account

SUGGESTIONS:

 Financially illiteracy is one of the root cause of poverty

 A Grass root level of knowledge should be given to women
 Women need only basic level of financial literacy
 Women with lower education level can use videos to educate them self
 Women who have a small level of education qualification can use textual or
eLearning platform
 The government should take more care about the women’s financial literacy level
 Women should show some interest on learning about the financial status
 Women should start using financial products given by the government
 NGO should show more interest on women’s financial literacy level on rural places

CONCLUSION:
Understanding the financial behaviour of women is a very crucial and progressive step
towards finding solutions to empower women in the marketplace. Women need savings
products that are flexible, offers liquidity and that promote daily savings. Women cannot go
to banks every day, especially if they are living in rural areas that are far away from these
services. Their engagement with SHGs is a step forward but still amounts to minimal and not
daily savings, as women visit their SHG groups only once a week or in some cases, once in
two weeks; and in most cases, they are saving the minimum ‘required’ amount to remain the
member. Many women from the poorest households are not even joining SHGs because of
their perception of not able to save the minimum ‘required’ amount.

First, a very crucial aspect of promoting savings is addressing the psychological barrier that
women face that they cannot save. Financial education that encourages women to save daily
is essential. The power of providing a lock box with a key to women, alongside financial
training through comic books, is the nature of the lifestyle of these women. Many are mostly
at home and making purchases that inevitably produce excess small change. The capacity to
save often gets eaten by small purchases and a lack of awareness---something that our study
found was cut down on by the presence of this lock box savings product. Money that was
already hidden by women in various parts of the house, to keep the other household members
from spending it, could now be kept in a location which cannot be so easily accessed, and
more important locked.

If providing a low-cost tool such as a lock box, along with the relatable financial education
modules, can improve the savings behaviour of women, then the findings from this study can
encourage NGOs and public policy makers to find very simple tools to implement to help
women increase their savings by a significant amount. This kind of an intervention is not only
low cost, but also low maintenance and is the kind of short-term solution that is adaptable to
the lifestyles and habits of the poor women in India.

REFERENCES:

 https://www.annuity.org/financial-literacy/
 https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/what-is-financial-literacy
 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-literacy.asp
 https://www.incharge.org/financial-literacy/
 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-economics-082312-
125807
 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2010.01175.x
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176515004115