Abstract
An anthropological and historical framework elucidates the layered challenges underlining the financial status of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)/ non-WEIRD women, highlighting the difficulties in obtaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1-No Poverty, 5-Gender Equality, 8-Decent Work and Economic Growth, and 10-Reduce Inequalities. Approximately 2 billion people globally are financially impoverished, and two in three adults worldwide are financially illiterate. As a result of systemic inequality and conditions of poverty, women and girls make up most of the poorest people. Women earn 60–75% of what men earn, with BIPOC women averaging 60%. Histories of cultural, interpersonal, and structural traumas perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of maladaptive social and economic effects and responses, including financial well-being. Multiple organizations and nations have identified that those psychological aspects, including mental health concerns, beliefs about money, and relationships with money, significantly impact financial empowerment and economic well-being. This conceptual chapter will explore the intersection of gendered and racial challenges to financial well-being. Financial well-being is the ability to have personal wealth serve life goals. It entails informed decision-making and a healthy relationship with money via saving, investing, using credit wisely, and planning for the future. Psychological principles are examined to support efforts toward BIPOC women’s empowerment. Moreover, the current status of women’s empowerment activities, with a particular focus on the emerging field of financial psychology, is discussed. Themes of financial psychology include identifying and changing how individuals think, feel, engage with, and make meaning of money and finances.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
AEF-Brasil. (2021). National strategy for financial education: Working towards a better Brazil. Accessed March 13, 2022, from Meubolsoemdia.com.br
American Association of University Women (AAUW). (2021). The simple truth about the gender pay gap: 2021 Update. Accessed March 20, 2022, from https://www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2021/09/AAUW_SimpleTruth_2021-Fall_update.pdf
American Association of University Women (AAUW). (n.d.). Systemic racism and the gender pay gap. Accessed March 20, 2022, from https://www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2021/07/SimpleTruth_4.0-1.pdf
American Psychological Association (APA) (2007–2020). Stress in America. Accessed February 7, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress
Blelwels R, Frye J, Khattar R (2021) Women of color and the wage gap, CAP., Accessed Feb 12, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/women-of-color-and-the-wage-gap/
Brody, C., et al. (2015). Economic self-help group programs for improving women’s empowerment: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 11, 1–182. https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2015.19
Burn, S. M. (2011). Women across cultures: A global perspective (3rd ed.). McGraw-hill.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2021). National Financial Capability Survey 2021–a Snapshot. Accessed February 20, 2022, from https://www.financialcapability.gov.au/strategy/part3.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2022). National Financial Capability Strategy. Accessed February 20, 2022, from https://www.financialcapability.gov.au/
Fan, J. X., & Xiao, J. J. (2006). Cross-cultural differences in risk tolerance: A comparison between Chinese and Americans. Journal of Personal Finance, 5(3), 54–75.
Fernandes, D., Lynch, J. G., Jr., & Netemeyer, R. J. (2014). Financial literacy, financial education, and downstream financial behaviours. Journal of Management Science, 60(8), 1861–1883.
Financial Therapy Association (FTA). (2014). About the financial therapy association. Accessed January 20, 2022, from http://www.financialtherapyassociation.org/About_the_FTA.html
Gilbreath, J., & Williams, L. (2013). Investing in our next generation: A native Hawaiian model for economic self-sufficiency. Community Investments, 25(2), 26–29.
Godinho, V. (2014). Money, cultural identity and financial Well-being in indigenous Australia. RMIT University.
Hegewisch, A., & Hartmann, H. (2014). Occupational segregation and the gender wage gap: A job half done. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Accessed January 20, 2022 from https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/C419.pdf
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2016). Women at work: Trends 2016. : ILO. Accessed January 20, 2022, from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-dgreports/%2D%2D-dcomm/%2D%2D-publ/documents/publication/wcms_457317.pdf
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2018). World employment and social outlook: Trends for women 2018: Global snapshot, Geneva. Accessed January 20, 2022 from http://www.ilo.org/womsp5/groups/public/-dgreports/-dcomm/-publication/woms_619577.pdf
Islam, R., Karim, M. A., Ahmad, R., & Nittoli, A. (2018). Loan repayment pressure in the practice of microfinance in Bangladesh: An empirical study on Grameen bank, BRAC and ASA. Journal of Rural Development, 37(4), 697–718.
Kaiser, T., & Menkoff, L. (2016). Does financial education impact financial literacy and financial behaviour, and if so, when? German Institute for Economic Research. Accessed February 1, 2022, from https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.529454.de/dp1562.pdf
Khamar, M. (2016). Global Outreach & Financial Performance Benchmark Report, 2014. Report prepared for MIX. Washington, DC: Microfinance information exchange. Accessed December 20, 2021, from www.themix.org/sites/default/files/publications/mix_global_regional_benchmark_report_2014_0.Pdf.
Klasen, S., & Schüler, D. (2011). Reforming the gender-related development index and the gender empowerment measure: Implementing some specific proposals. Feminist Economics, 17(1), 1–30.
Klontz, B. T., Bivens, A., Klontz, P. T., Wada, J., & Kahler, R. (2008). The treatment of disordered money behaviors: Results of an open clinical trial. Psychological Services, 5(3), 295–308.
Klontz, B. T., & Britt, S. L. (2012). How clients’ money scripts predict their financial behaviours. Journal of Financial Planning, 25(11), 33–43.
Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., Mentzer, J., & Klontz, T. (2011). Money beliefs and financial behaviors: Development of the Klontz money script inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2(1), 1–22.
Leung, K., Brew, F. P., Zhang, Z. X., & Zhang, Y. (2011). Harmony and conflict: A cross-cultural investigation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 795–816. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00214
Li, Y., & Hu, F. (2022). Exploring the antecedents of money attitudes in China: Evidence from university students. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 888980. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.888980
Mungekar, N. (2019). Why is fetching water considered women’s job? Presentation at the IHE Delft Alumni & Partners Online Seminar. https://www.un-ihe.org/stories/why-fethching-water-considered-‘women’s-job.
Ortiz-Ospina, E., Tzvetkova, S., & Roser, M. (2018). Women’s employment. Accessed February 7, 2022, from https://ourworldindata.org/female-labour-supply
Perry, K. (2013). Black women against the land grab: The fight for racial justice in Brazil. University of Minnesota Press.
Royal, C. (2011). Speech by professor Charles Royal: Director, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Paper presented at the Te Pae Tawhiti launch: Māori economic development.
Saad, G. E., et al. (2022). Paving the way to understanding female-headed households: Variation in household composition across 103 low- and middle-income countries. Journal of Global Health, 12, 04038. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.12.04038
Schoch, M., & Lakner, C. (2020). Global poverty reduction is slowing, regional trends help understanding why. World Bank Blogs. Accessed February 3, 2022, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/global-poverty-reduction-slowing-regional-trends-help-understandingwhy#:~:Text=the%20latest%20global%20poverty%20estimates%20show%20that%209.2%25,689%20million%20people%20still%20living%20in%20extreme%20poverty.
Statman, M. (2008). Countries and culture in behavioral finance. CFA Institute Conference Proceedings Quarterly, 25(3), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.2469/cp.v25.n3.6
UNICEF. (2016). Collecting water is often a colossal waste of time for women and girls. Accessed February 2, 2022, from https://unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-collecting-water-often-colossal-waste-time-women-and-girls
United Kingdom’s Department for Work and Pensions. (2013). Automatic enrolment opt out rates: Findings from research with large employers. Accessed May 27, 2022 from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/automatic-enrolment-opt-out-rates-findings-from-research-with-large-employers
United Kingdom’s Institute for Government. (2010). MINDSPACE: Influence behaviour through public policy. Accessed January 19, 2022, from https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/MINDSPACE.pdf
United Nations (UN). (2017a). Household size and composition around the world 2017. Accessed February 9, 2022, from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/household_size_and_composition_around_the_world_2017_data_booklet.pdf
United Nations (UN). (2017b). Principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses, Revision 3. Accessed February 18, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/Standards-and-Methods/files/Principles_and_Recommendations/Population-and-Housing-Censuses/Series_M67rev3-E.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs (UN E/SA). (n.d.). Do you know all 17 SDGs? https://sdgs.un.org/goals
United Nations Global Compact. (n.d.). Strong markets and strong societies go hand in hand. Accessed January 22, 2022, from https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/social/poverty.
United Nations Women. (2018). Why gender equality matters across all SDGs: An excerpt of turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, chapter 3. Accessed January 5, 2022, from http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-librarry/sdg-report.
United Nations Women. (n.d.-a). Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Accessed 5 January 5, 2022 from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2018/SDG-report-Fact-sheet-Global-en.pdf?la=en&vs=3554
United Nations Women. (n.d.-b). Women in the changing world of work: Facts you should know. Accessed January 5, 2022, from https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/infographic/changingworldofwork/en/index.html
United Nations Women. (n.d.-c). Facts and figures: Economic empowerment. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures
United Nations Women. (n.d.-d). Economic empowerment of women. Accessed January 22, 2022, from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2013/12/UN%20Women_EE-Thematic-Brief_US-web%20pdf.pdf
Wood, J. (2018). 104 countries have laws that prevent women from working in some jobs. World Economic Forum. Accessed January 22, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/104-countries-have-laws-that-prevent-women-from-working-in-some-jobs/
World Bank. (2015). Women, business and the law 2016: Getting equal. Accessed January 22, 2022, from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22546
World Bank. (2018). Women, business and the law 2018. Accessed February 3, 2022, from http://wbl.worldbank.org/.
World Bank. (2022). Women, business and the law 2022. Accessed February 3, 2022, from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36945
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Soares, S., Sidun, N.M. (2023). Psychological Perspectives on Financial Empowerment of BIPOC/Non-WEIRD Women. In: Mayer, CH., et al. Women's Empowerment for a Sustainable Future. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25924-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25924-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25923-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25924-1
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)