Women form 50.5 percent of the US population, as per a 2021 statistical report by World Bank. This means that half of the population is women; obvious but shocking to some who are unaware of how equal the split is. It is mainly due to the fact that despite being in the digital era of the 21st century, women are still dramatically underrepresented because of stereotypical mindsets and biases. Many still believe that women should be focused on more domestic responsibilities.

Even in cases where women make their way to a high-level position, they face unfair bias like pay gaps, lack of access to professional development, and lack of support from employers. Women have a lot of challenges getting into board-level jobs, have few opportunities to start businesses, and need help finding STEM-related jobs. The list is ongoing, and raising awareness by calling out these biases should be our individual and collective responsibility.

At OrbisPay, we have always prioritized the empowerment of people and the workforce. Keeping the tradition alive, on this International Women’s Day, we extend our support to millions of women who are fighting for empowerment amidst biases.

Female Empowerment Explained!

The empowerment of women supports their ability to make life decisions regardless of all social challenges. It includes raising the status of women's contribution to not only the domestic aspects of life and society but also within education and career. Women empowerment is all about treating women equally at work and supporting their right to influence social change for themselves and others.

Inclusion of Women in Fintech

Historically, we haven’t encouraged female curiosity and education in fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) until recently. Even still, females make up a small percentage overall in STEM studies and careers. For a more inclusive fintech, it starts with roots and grows into a STEM.

Each of these disciplines is at the core of fintech and with so few female STEM students, it’s no wonder fintech studies show industry with only a 30% female workforce, 17% female fintech leaders, and only 5% of its founders are women.

Why is that a problem?

Two major reasons: customers and equality. Even though so few women are leaders in fintech, the customer base is still about 50% female. Yet there is little to no representation or advocacy for this half of customers. If any other vertical ignored 50% of its customer profile, it would collapse. This imbalance raises more concern.

Fintech organizations are quick to promote the new freedom, diversity, and equality that digital investment offers, but if the workforce and its leaders cater only to the male percentage of the customer base, isn’t it only men benefiting?

Fintech is largely about empowering financial inclusion that must benefit all genders.

How Can You Empower Through Financial Resilience?

Financial resilience is defined as the ability to withstand life events that affect your finances. It could be a career loss, a decrease in income, or a significant household or lifestyle expense.

Recent studies have shown that more females than males work in sectors that have been hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and face a more fragile recovery time than men.

In an era where employees have an edge over employers, empowering the global workforce to be financially healthy and resilient is so critical now, as individuals try to recover from the pandemic and rebuild savings and financial security.

Hence, arranging financial training and financial literacy programs for females at a large scale could be a good move towards economic resilience.  There are growing numbers of organizations and nonprofits dedicated to the financial literacy of females and young adults.

To walk individuals through all stages and challenges of financial planning, there are professionals who genuinely want to guide others to success. If you’re not sure where to find programs that support financial training, you can start with local schools, colleges, and financial institutions.

Besides this, extended work perks and benefits are in trend and are the need of hour now. Workers are asking for more than a paycheck. The case becomes stronger for women who must support their families, bear the process of childbirth and work at the frontline on key roles. In such a scenario, it is significant that companies adopt a culture of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality and come up with equal work perks like access to earned wages, emergency funds, retirement plans, paid time off for their workforce.

Final Thoughts!

Let’s share and support more resilient women creating innovative businesses and independent wealth. Women are courageous in the face of incredible adversity and brilliantly ingenious and creative in cutting through systemic bias even when odds are stacked against them!

OrbisPay celebrates and stands with all the women and backs them up by supporting this year’s International Women’s Day hashtag of #breakthebias.  At OrbisPay, we believe in giving everyone an equal opportunity to build their financial resilience, so they have better control over their life.

Happy International Women’s Day from all of us!