Yet the Equality Strategy 2020-2025 of European Union cited without a shadow of a doubt that: “women and men, in all their diversity, should have the same opportunities to prosper and be economically independent, be paid equally for their work of equal value, have equal access to financing and receive fair pensions”.
Furthermore, this principle is found in the art. 37 of the Italian Constitution, and despite this the even more recent data from the OECD and EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equity, give us a worrying and contradictory picture where Italy still shows evident gender differentials in financial and digital skills and even in the Global Gender Gap Index 2024 of the World Economic Forum it loses another 8 positions, slipping to 87th place out of 146 countries, with a worsening in women's economic participation.
But why is the economic and financial empowerment of women, first and foremost, and of all people, more generally, so important, so much so that it is at the center of the Women7 statement?
In the most recent debate, the unidirectional approach has been overcome to move on to a multidimensional one which invites us to analyze gender inequalities through income, wealth and control of one's finances: thus allowing the incidence and social value to be defined more precisely. of financial independence, beyond cultural legacies and behavioral preconceptions (bias), behind which hide justifications for the delays in the widespread dissemination of a financial culture crucial for people's well-being.
Going into detail about the working reality of women in Italy, the work participation already low at 53% compared to European levels of 70%, INPS data reveals itself as the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the data show how gender differentials (salary, income and pension) are the result of a horizontal and vertical segregation of women, to which is added a polarization of female work in part-time work and in sectors where wages are higher. low.
And while schools, businesses and government institutions are committed to strengthening the skills of workers to overcome a spiral that is harmful to the participatory economic action of women and girls, society appears increasingly digitalized and demanding in the most technical and therefore enabling a constantly evolving world of work, highlighting a close connection between financial and digital skills, which have always been at the center of the mission of Global Thinking Foundation, to leverage the prevention of financial abuse and economic violence. Once again, European (Eurostat EU-GBV) and Italian data show that one in four women has suffered economic violence at least once in their life and, according to SEA-UK, 77% of people who are victims of this type of violence remain mental health problems linked to financial stress that affect the personal and work-related serenity of victims. Above all, when coercive and controlling behavior occurs which prohibits them from working and/or controls family finances and personal income, typical situations of this form of violence.
Tracing the identikit of economic independence and reiterating its centrality in the life of every saver must make us reflect on the aftermath that we observe and hear at our counters (https://www.gltfoundation.com/sportelli/), relating to the repercussions on physical and mental health, which then fall on school, work and entrepreneurial participation, and therefore in all spheres of active social participation that ultimately determine the development of a country and the well-being of all citizens.
Another element that emerges as a result of the social impact analyzes on the initiatives of financial education in the area there is the perception that some social levers, such as taxation and support services for women linked to health care (their own and that of their children or elderly parents), are non-negligible elements of support and protection with respect to the risk of poverty o exclusion social. Measures that seem inevitable where wage differentials in Italy in the private sector are on average double compared to the EU, and inevitably transform into pension gaps that reach 36% (INPS data), compared to 26% in the EU, and are crucial for strengthening financial independence by actively contributing to one's family environment.
Conclusion
Across the EU, fewer women (19%) than men (34%) have a high level of literacy financial, which contributes to the gender gap in economic wealth.
These data must be interpreted in the broader context of gender inequalities in financial independence, with clear bidirectional effects. If women have fewer financial resources, they will be less able (and less willing to learn) to invest. In short, the trigger of a positive spiral between work participation, economic independence and financial inclusion revolves around knowledge, and specifically financial education, which leads to the most important result: being free people, to be able to hope for a better future for themselves, their family and community, free from any type of violence, starting with the economic one, the most invisible but no less harmful.
