Financial literacy is key: Beti bachao, Vitt sikhao
Indian women will be truly empowered only once they become both financially literate and capable across every socio-economic group. Financial or ‘vitt’ education needs stepping up
What is the next step in women’s empowerment? Financial empowerment. If literacy, or mastery over the three ‘R’s, is the first stepping stone in women’s empowerment (hence the government’s ‘Beti bachao, Beti padhao’ programme), then financial literacy, or the ability to understand finance and financial products and take one’s own decisions on savings and investment, is the second but no-less important step in the journey to true empowerment.
Sure, Indian women have come a long way since 1947, when female infant mortality was unconscionably high and women’s literacy hugely lagged that of men, especially in large swathes of north and central India. Today, more girl children survive into adulthood than ever before; female infant mortality has fallen from 213 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 1972 to 31 per 1,000 in 2021. Meanwhile, female literacy improved from 54.2% in 2001 to 65.5%, according to the 2011 census, while the gender gap narrowed. So, even as we hang our heads in collective shame over the horrific rape of a Swedish tourist in Jharkhand less than a week ago, showing how much further we must go, women today are far more empowered than even a few years ago. Studies like those conducted by ASER may take some of the shine off these numbers by pointing to the appalling quality of education in many of our schools. There are also the usual regional disparities that dog all aspects of economic and social life in a country as vast as diverse as ours, with our southern states ahead on gender indicators. But it is not enough that more women are better educated today and able to compete on equal terms with their male counterparts for the best jobs in the country. They must also be able to take their own financial decisions. “A woman’s best protection” is no longer “a little money of her own,” as US politician Clare Booth Luce once said, but the ability to manage it on her own. Unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of women lack the financial knowledge and skills that are key to their empowerment. Like the gender gap in mortality and literacy, women are found to lag men in both financial knowledge and access to financial products. While progress is clearly a function of societal changes, especially the chipping away of patriarchal social structures in the country, it is hard to say which comes first. Does societal change pave the way for financial empowerment or is it the other way round? The example of women’s self-help groups, like Kerala’s Kudumbashree, suggests it’s the latter.
Financial inclusion can and must be given a gender dimension. This is where initiatives like women-only branches, pioneered by nationalized banks, could help. The digitization of our economy and digital public infrastructure mean that women can now access financial products sitting at home. Government initiatives like the Jan Dhan Yojana, under which direct cash transfers are made to women’s bank accounts, and platforms like the Open Network for Digital Commerce, which enables women entrepreneurs to market their products online, are examples of what can be done for gender inclusion. As women become equal partners in the country’s development, the current government slogan of ‘Beti bachao, Beti padhao,’ asking people to save the girl child and educate her, should be appended with ‘Vitt sikhao’: Teach her finance.