Should a housewife invest in the stock market?
Author Padmapriydarshini
I believe that financial independence is important for women to make their own choices, but the financial knowledge required to make such decisions is low in women. According to 2011 Census, 82.1% of the men and only 65.5% of the women are literate (Census of India, 2011). The reason is that either most women were married at a young age or were barred from pursuing education.
Female traders can actually reduce stock market crashes
Further, 79.1% of the urban women and 57.9% of the rural women are literate as per 2011 Census. Lack of basic facilities like water and sanitation at schools, early marriages, and domestic violence are the causes for lower literacy rate of rural women. Also, a survey conducted by VISA says that only 37.1% of the women have a home budget compared to Brazil which has the highest of 51.8% (Chetna Singh, 2017). Another survey by Standard and Poor’s says that only 14% of the Indian adults were familiar with risk diversification and only 51% knew the concept of compound interest (Chetna Singh, 2017). In conclusion, lower literacy rate of women also means a lower financial awareness as compared to men.
Conclusion
I strongly support that housewives should invest in the stock market carefully with complete knowledge about it. As stock investing is risky, yet essential, they shouldn’t get carried away by the opinions of ill-informed people. Rather, they should invest time to gather materials and understand the stock market before making a decision. Because critical thinking is needed for decision making, education is important. I have based my argument by saying that education and financial awareness go hand in hand. However, there could be cases where a woman may not be very educated but is still investing in stocks. At the end of the day, interest and consistency determine whether a housewife should or should not invest in the stock market.
References
- (2011). Retrieved from Census of India: http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/data_files/mp/07Literacy.pdf
- Chetna Singh, R. K. (2017). Financial Literacy among Women – Indian Scenario. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, 5 (2), 46-53.
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