Why women don’t participate in financial decisions- have numerophobia?

This has to do a lot with the patriarchy system we live in. In our society, men are supposed to be the bread earners of the family. So naturally, given they are bringing money in the family, they have the task and responsibility to take decisions in the financial matter. And they usually do.

Women, not participating in the financial decisions of their family, have very less to do with their will and preference. Majority of them do want to play an important role in the decision-making, but they don’t get the room to have a say.

This being said though, one cannot deny that patriarchal beliefs exist even among women. Shaped so, many of them believe they don’t deserve beyond what they have. In the traditional family system, they have happened to assume that they should not partake in the decision-making of the family when it comes to finance. They don’t take proactive measures to change how things are.

The times have changed now. If we look around, there are many women working on an influential positions in financial sector but the percentage is still miniscule. I can't forget to mention about Deena Mehta, who has transformed the rules of trading. Recently Fidelity revealed that women investors exceed men by 0.3 %. Also Morningstar India, came out with the study that assets managed by women fund managers generated more returns as compared to men. Yet there are miles to go! This scene is relevant in metros and more where both partners are working.

In short, majority of women don’t have numerophobia, neither their brain is wiered to NOT understand finance! They simply don’t get the space to make finance-related decisions in the family. And also, they don’t want to make such decisions believing they are not supposed to.