Topic: Women & finance
Every March at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, we rang the bell for gender equality with International Finance Corporation, (IFC), UN Women and few more partners like Women on Board (WOB). It was a short ceremony on the trading floor, and it always started longer conversations. Women who had come as guests would stay back afterward to ask how to open an investment account, what a mutual fund actually holds, or whether it was too late to start saving for retirement. Their questions told me more about women and finance than any report.
For years, the conversation about women and finance has centered on access: a bank account, credit, a savings product, an investment platform. These are essential first steps. The question that comes next matters just as much: does access turn into confidence, ownership and the freedom to make decisions?
From included to confident
Financial independence means understanding money, knowing what it can do and feeling confident enough to make choices about one’s own future. The real shift happens when a woman understands her financial position, weighs her options and takes part in the decisions that shape her life.
That takes knowledge, relevant information and a financial system that feels welcoming. At the exchange, we made financial literacy a market development priority. We held investor awareness sessions with the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Rawalpindi and other women chambers, at Jinnah University for Women, DHA college for Women, professional women among many others, and we built digital tools that let women practice investing before committing their own money. I later represented Pakistan at the UN Women conference in 2024 held in Manila, where I heard the same questions from women across Asia.
What the data showed me
Earlier in my career, I was supporting a partner organization’s employees focused investment campaign that produced modest results. When I looked at the data, one pattern stood out: women aged 30 to 45 were reading and engaging with our financial content at high rates, yet very few of them were enrolling. Interest was clearly there.
We brought the finding to the organization and built a separate campaign for these women, with different messaging, different channels and a different offer. It outperformed the main campaign, and the organization adopted segment-specific communication as its standard practice. Women had wanted to invest all along. They needed the conversation to be designed with them in mind.
Women are many markets
A young professional starting her career, a mother managing a household budget, an entrepreneur growing her business and a woman preparing for retirement each have different priorities. Many share common barriers: limited access to financial knowledge, unequal control over assets, little spare time and a confidence gap when it comes to investing.
The answer is to give women the information, tools and opportunities to make decisions that fit their own circumstances and ambitions. That means clear communication, digital journeys that are easy to use and financial education connected to real decisions: saving for a child’s education, managing debt, protecting a family, investing for the future or building a business.
Through Standard Chartered’s Goal Girls and Women in Tech programs, and as a lead for financial education program at the Stock Exchange, I have seen what happens when women entrepreneurs gain mentors, networks and a path to capital. Their businesses grow, and so does their confidence in managing money.
Financial literacy is also a growth strategy
Financial education serves society and it serves business. When people understand products and markets, they participate more fully. For institutions, that means stronger relationships, better-informed customers and a broader base of long-term investors. For markets, it means deeper participation and steadier growth.
Financial education belongs at the center of an institution’s strategy, connected to customer acquisition, engagement, product design and long-term trust. Younger women are a particular opportunity: introducing financial concepts early, and making investing approachable and practical, builds habits that last for decades.
Better measures of progress
I would like the conversation to move from whether women have financial services to whether they have the capability and confidence to use them on their own terms. Are women building savings? Do they understand the risks and returns of their choices? Do they take part in household financial decisions? Can women entrepreneurs access finance to grow? Are institutions listening to women and designing around their needs?
Financial independence looks different for every woman. The ability to understand one’s options, make informed decisions and build a future with greater agency belongs to every one of them.
If we measured women’s financial inclusion by the confidence and choices an account enables, how would financial institutions change the way they serve women?