Summary of Findings
The lack of financial knowledge in students has been a source of concern in the academic environment due to the obvious challenges that the specified knowledge gap entails for learners. Without proper financial knowledge, students are incapable of making critical decisions in their academic life, which may lead to them filing for their education. In the research under analysis, the author of the study tries to prove that the extent of financial knowledge is slightly greater among male students than it is among female ones. After a thorough analysis of the obtained evidence, their hypothesis turns out to be true, which suggests that the existing gap needs to be closed by introducing extra opportunities for education about financial management for female learners.
Discussion of Findings
The study has provided insightful material for further consideration, placing the problem of financial education for female students into the limelight. However, it would be an understatement to claim that the problem of the lack of balance in financial knowledge among male and female students has not been spotted before. On the contrary, the outcomes of the analysis are in line with the arguments presented by some of the previous articles, such as the studies by Fazli Sabri, Cook, and Gudmunson (2012) and Preston and Wright (2019).
At the same time, the outcomes of the analysis represent a counterargument to the paper by Reuben, Wiswall, and Zafar (2017) since the latter claims that there is no noticeable difference between the financial knowledge among either of the genders. Thus, the present study represents an important update on the issue of financial awareness among students and the methods of managing the gender gap in regard to the subject matter. Moreover, the research provides additional insights concerning the nature of the problem, which is an important addition to the discussion. Furthermore, there is a slight difference in the conceptualization of the study results.
In the previous research, the problem of financial knowledge was framed as a general issue that could benefit from introducing learners to additional courses as the means of examining the range of their financial competencies (Reuben et al., 2017). In turn, the present research argues that gender-related issues stand in the way of female learners gaining the needed skills and developing prowess in managing fanatical issues and navigating the financial environment.
There are several theoretical explanations of the findings located in the course of the research. The perspective used in the article, namely, the Agnew and Cameron-Agnew (2015) framework, can be seen as appropriate for applying to the case under analysis. Agnew and Cameron-Agnew (2015) theorize that the specifics of behaviors that are traditionally associated with the two genders, as well as the active promotion of gender roles as they are ascribed to men and women in contemporary society, shape one’s financial choices and strategies to a tangible degree, thus predetermining one’s decisions and shaping the mechanism of one’s decision-making process.
Limitations and Suggestions
The current limitations of the study arise from the methods used to research the issue. Specifically, the sampling strategy may have led to some of the students being underrepresented, which may have skewed the results of the analysis lightly. In addition, the external factors that may have had an impact on the correctness of learners’ answers could not have possibly been taken into consideration due to the multiple ranges of factors that would have needed to be embraced in that scenario.
Moreover, students’ perspectives on the issue of financial knowledge could have been explored to gain insight into why the observed phenomenon of a gender gap takes place. Therefore, the outcomes of the research have informed the focus of a follow-up study that will have to be undertaken to research the main factors behind female students’ financial literacy issues and the strategies for correcting them.
Implications and Conclusion
The results of the study, which prove that there is a substantial difference between the levels of financial knowledge in male and female students, imply that certain measures have to be taken in order to address the existing issue and encourage the development of financial knowledge in females students. Specifically, the strategies for assisting female students in gaining basic financial literacy and developing the skills that will help them to perform more complex tasks such as budgeting will be required.
Therefore, the major implications of the study include creating opportunities for addressing the presence of economic and financial inequality within the target academic setting, as well as introducing learners to the idea of financial literacy as a notion.
By locating the correlation between the gender of students and their financial knowledge, the authors of the study introduced premises for addressing the existing gap and providing female students with an opportunity to raise the extent of their financial knowledge. As a result, female learners are expected to overcome the challenges that they presently have to encounter in the academic context when managing their financial resources. Thus, the problem of the financial gap will be addressed at several levels, including socio-cultural and economic ones.
References
Fazli Sabri, M., Cook, C., & Gudmunson, C. (2012). Financial well‐being of Malaysian college students. Asian Education And Development Studies, 1(2), 153-170. Web.
Preston, A., & Wright, R. (2019). Understanding the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Evidence from Australia. Economic Record, 95(S1), 1-29. Web.
Reuben, E., Wiswall, M., & Zafar, B. (2017). Preferences and biases in educational choices and labour market expectations: Shrinking the black box of gender. The Economic Journal, 127(604), 2153-2186. Web.