Taking action to improve financial wellbeing for women
May 2, 2022
80% of women rate their financial wellbeing as moderate to very low, which is why we’re joining #ItStartsWithAction to encourage women to take a step toward improving their financial wellbeing.
Two different research reports have revealed that women still have a much lower level of financial wellbeing compared to men.
Both pieces of research, one from Te Ara Ahunga Ora and the other from the Financial Services Council (FSC), highlight women in general feel less financially comfortable, have lower household incomes, have lower rates of homeownership, are less confident at investing and fewer women seek financial advice compared to men.
The #ItStartsWithAction campaign, which is led by the FSC, aims to collectively create a positive shift in the confidence and wellbeing of women around the country through engaging conversations and tangible actions.
The three-month campaign, which has over 70 different organisations and individuals supporting it, is taking place from 2nd May to 29th July and feeds into Te Ara Ahunga Ora’s national strategy – which has identified women as a priority group for improving financial capability.
Click here to learn how you can support #ItStartsWithAction
Each fortnight, throughout the three-month campaign, there will be a new theme led by different organisations that will share their specialist insights and tools to help encourage women to take action towards improving their financial wellbeing.
Our action
On 27th June, as part of the navigating life’s challenges theme, we will be exploring the financial challenges people have in their relationships and how to get support when things go wrong. To support people to constructively communicate about money, we will be promoting our new Healthy Financial Relationships Toolkit that is created in partnership with AUT.
The toolkit features quizzes, activities and conversational tips that support people to better understand their own relationship with money, while also removing some of the barriers that could be impacting their discussions about money with their partner.
Our Social Inclusion Manager, Nicola Eccleton, said:
“We are excited to be a part of this important campaign to help improve women’s financial wellbeing. We know women face a different set of challenges when it comes to money and our toolkit aims to remove some of those barriers so that women can feel more confident and secure discussing money within their relationship.”