On International Women's Day, the Vienna Stock Exchange is hosting the "Ring the Bell for Gender Equality" event for the 6th time. As part of a global initiative with around 120 participating stock exchanges, the event aims to raise awareness for the economic participation and equality of women. The Vienna Stock Exchange exemplifies gender parity in its own company: 45% of the workforce are women, and there is almost equality in middle and top management. However, an imbalance exists in Austria when it comes to retirement provision and asset accumulation, although numerous studies have shown that financial independence and security in old age are fundamentally important for many women. The Vienna Stock Exchange is helping to reduce this discrepancy with a variety of financial education initiatives.
"In view of the demographic change and the widening funding gap, young Austrians are skeptical about the public pension system. There is a willingness to make private provisions, but the own know-how is not considered sufficient. This is where educational measures such as those offered by Vienna Stock Exchange can help," says Andrea Herrmann, Chief Financial Officer of Wiener Börse AG.
It is often a lack of familiarity with financial instruments that prevents women from investing, as shown by the Austrian "Aktienbarometer" – a study by the Federation of Austrian Industries, Aktienforum and the Vienna Stock Exchange on securities ownership in Austria. More than three quarters of the women surveyed cited a lack of financial knowledge as a reason for not investing in securities. Many men also feel that their financial literacy could be improved, although the proportion is significantly lower in a gender comparison (61%). This imbalance is reflected even more clearly in the actual ownership of securities: while 19% of women use securities for long-term wealth accumulation, almost twice as many men do so (36%).
This is not a national problem. At the event at the Vienna Stock Exchange, Hannelore Veit, who was ORF US correspondent for many years, will provide deep insights into the politics and economics of the world's largest economy, reporting: "In the United States, the state pension system is inadequate, and building wealth with securities and other forms of investment is a necessity. However, the imbalance between men and women in retirement provision is also evident there."
Vienna Stock Exchange is actively involved in promoting financial education
The Vienna Stock Exchange has been taking measures to strengthen financial education for many years and supports the "National Financial Literacy Strategy" initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance. For example, Vienna Stock Exchange provides teaching materials for teachers and offers school lectures throughout Austria. As part of the Wiener Börse Akademie – a cooperation with the WIFI Management Forum – private investors can attend seminars and workshops to build up stock market knowledge and obtain specific information. The beginners' seminar "Investing in securities" is specially designed for women. However, the offer is also aimed at advanced investors who want to take their investments into their own hands. A separate TikTok channel is aimed at the young target group.
