Context

The primary objectives of FEMpower in Finance are to enhance self-confidence among women to make informed financial decisions, raise awareness of retirement and wealth accumulation strategies, and promote gender-inclusive financial education. Through collaborative efforts and tailored resources, this initiative focuses on creating accessible educational tools, a curriculum, and a knowledge hub to empower adult educators and facilitate meaningful peer-to-peer engagement.

Need

Women in Europe face persistent financial inequalities:in 2020, the Gender Pay Gap was at 13%, and in 2021, the Gender Pension Gap was nearly 26%, putting women at greater risk of poverty in old age. Despite holding 40–45% of private wealth, women are significantly less likely to invest—fewer than 1 in 5 do so regularly, compared to 1 in 3 men.

A lack of financial literacy and confidence often holds women back from making informed financial decisions. FEMpower in Finance addresses this by providing inclusive training, a practical curriculum, and interactive tools to empower women to manage and invest their finances sustainably—reducing gender gaps and unlocking economic potential.

Project Rational

Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training

With FEMpower in Finance, we want to contribute to reducing gender inequalities by improving the financial knowledge and skills of European women and increasing their self-confidence to make independent financial decisions. Our aim is to assist women in rural areas where gender inequalities are more prevalent, and support social inclusion by countering the threat of old age poverty amongst women through innovative learning resources.

Creating and promoting learning opportunities among all citizens and generations

Our resources will specifically address the needs of different age groups – after all, young women have very different requirements and challenges than older women. FEMpower in Finance fosters intergenerational learning by providing an innovative pedagogical approach and expertise, allowing all generations to benefit from the creation of interactive teaching and learning resources.

Improving the availability of high quality, flexible and recognised learning for adults

Within FEMpower in Finance, we will develop comprehensive educational resources, including a curriculum that responds to real-life challenges of women regarding their finances and a toolbox that facilitates the management of financial matters as well as strategy development for retirement planning and wealth accumulation. Our flexible, learner-centered resources are designed to adapt to the specific conditions and individual needs of any region. These resources aim to enhance the digital and sustainable finance competences as stipulated in the Financial Competence Framework for Adults within the European Union.

Results

To address these issues, the project will produce several results:

  • A Curriculum that responds to real-life challenges of women regarding their finances.

  • Lerner-centered resources designed to directly address women’s needs and challenges regarding their financial literacy, adapt to the specific conditions and individual needs of any region, and enable their use as classroom courses, hybrid learning models and online self-study.

  • A toolbox with at least 20 practical tools that facilitates the management of financial matters as well as strategy development for retirement planning and wealth accumulation.

  • An interactive Knowledge Hub that combines learning resources, knowledge sharing and collaboration innovatively in an inspiring virtual learning environment, giving access to users with different needs and in different learning situations.