Financial Literacy: Thai Middle-Class Women Do Not Lag Behind

Abstract

This research studies the stylized fact of a “gender gap” in that women tend to have lower financial literacy than men. Our data which samples middle-class people from Bangkok does not show a gender gap for those with at least minimum wage earnings. This result is not explained by men’s low financial literacy, nor by women’s high income and good education. Rather, country characteristics may influence finance-specific gender equality, such as Thailand’s small gender gaps in pupils’ mathematics abilities and secondary school enrollment, and women’s strong role in financial affairs. This may indicate ways to reduce the gender gap in financial literacy elsewhere.