For Female Invest, Everyday is International Women's Day. Here's Why

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This is something we acknowledge at Female Invest. Since launching back in 2019, we’ve made it our duty to close the financial gender gap. We do that through our financial learning platform where we educate women on how to make the most of their money and begin investing.

Financial understanding and planning is not part of the curriculum at school. And so we needed an alternative space where women can get the tools and knowledge to improve their financial landscape, so you don’t end up working for money your entire life.

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The facts Female Invest is fighting

When it comes to discussing inequality, we at Female Invest like to look at facts. So let’s take a closer look at some of the statistics related to financial inequality.

1. At the current rate, it will take 267 years to close the financial gender gap.
2. 10% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. That’s 51 women, only 3 of which are black.
3. Only 1% of funding goes to femaleled startups.
4. Out of the 195 countries in the world, zero have achieved financial gender equality.
5. Women globally earn around 37% less than men in similar roles.
6. Multiple surveys show that women pay higher interest rates on their loans than male borrowers.
7. Research by Starling Bank shows that boys get 20% more pocket money than girls every week.
8. Women spend around 2.5 times more time on unpaid care work and household work than men.

It’s safe to say there’s room for improvement.

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Closing the financial gender gap since day one

For far too long, women have been left out of the conversations around money. Anna Hartvigsen, co-founder of Female Invest explains that: “When we (the three founders) started investing at age 19, we had no female role models to look up to. It seemed like a boys only club and on top of that the information available was not accessible for beginners at all Female Invest exists to change this, by creating a safe space for women to learn, grow and take back power into their own hands.”

Hartvigsen continues: “We’re here to put more money into the hands of women and empower women to take matters into their own hands. But it’s not about women having money to buy more stuff. No, it’s about money to take independent choices. It’s about freedom.”

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It’s safe to say that money does indeed equal power. Money equals the ability to live life on your own terms. And women around the world have a lot less of both. This is exactly what we want to address on International Women’s Day. The only question is, how?

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Awareness is the starting point

From walking home alone to facing injustice is the bank when applying for a mortgage, we know that each and everyone of us has in one way or the other, experienced inequality. So how do we talk about this inequality affecting women’s lives? How do we show the challenges and injustices we face on a daily basis?

Because it’s not just financial issues, which form the basis of what we at Female Invest are fighting, but stretches to a myriad of other ways in which women and unequal.

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The costs of being a woman

Camilla Falkenberg, Co-founder of Female Invest explains: “Our approach was quite simple. We asked the question: What does it cost to be a woman to our community? And then our inbox was flooding with everyday examples from hundreds of women wanting to share their stories with real life examples.”

And it’s by bringing these stories and life examples to the forefront we can spread awareness as to what it means to be a woman today.

Want to see what that looks like? Check it out below and explore our whole International Women's Day campaign here.

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Female Invest is the voice of inequality beyond just the financial

That’s why despite being a financial learning platform, we’ve made it our mission to expand our storytelling and reveal the compounding impacts of inequality – because inequality, whether financial or not, is systemic. ​​We fully embrace the responsibility we have through our platform to create impactful and long-lasting change in the financial world and beyond. And it’s this identity that we will mobilise our community around.

Women fall behind in all walks of life — now we're committed to being a leading voice for gender inequality in every form it takes. Which is why we speak out on issues surrounding women through our Instagram channels and through our magazine. We’re a voice for all women, regardless of background.

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The key drivers for actual change?

Although awareness is the foundation, there are two things enabling significant change. And for Female Invest, that’s community and information.

We’ve made it a priority to create a safe space for likeminded women to connect, learn and share knowledge. Witnessing first-hand how the community has evolved, we’ve seen how it’s a crucial driver for social change.

We see it in our online community where members celebrate each other’s wins every single day. We see it when our members start breaking the money taboos and talk to their partner, friends and family about money. We see it when 20,000 people sign up to attend a free webinar about pensions.

Emma Bitz, Co-founder of Female Invest explains that: “When we started Female Invest back in 2019 we were just three girls with a mission. Now, we are a global community of women demanding change. This is a reflection of the growing movement and it’s safe to say we feel empowered now more than ever to continue until we’ve closed the financial gender gap.”  

We know that our community has the power to change the status quo. One investor at a time. Just imagine the ripple effect of this and what we could achieve together? Not just for ourselves as individuals, but for the collective too.

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Nothing bad happens when women have more money

Let’s zoom out and take a look at what the future holds for women claiming more equality. Although women have been held back and have less power, the ironic fact is, nothing bad happens when we have more money. Quite the opposite actually. So let’s take a look at what our world could look like.

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1. When more women work, economies grow

It’s as simple as that. UN Women describes that: “Increasing the female employment rates in OECD countries to match that of Sweden, could boost GDP by over USD 6 trillion”. That starts with educating more women globally.

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2. Women’s economic equality is good for business

Companies that increase employment and leadership opportunities for women can expect great benefits in terms of organizational effectiveness and growth. It is estimated that companies with three or more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions of organizational performance.

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3. Women are more likely to invest sustainably

Women prefer investing in companies that have a positive social or environmental impact, according to Cerulli Associates. 52% of women wants to invest in a way that helps the environment and does social good. That’s true for only 44% of men.

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Final thoughts

Combatting the inequality, the injustice and claiming our power is not something we should do alone. Combining financial information and community is the stepping stone to achieving amazing things for women worldwide. That, our community has already proven. Learning, growing, improving and sharing knowledge is key now and for future generations. Let’s change the status quo - together. Join the movement.