Women experience heightened financial and bodily pressures

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In a revealing survey by the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, it has been found that financial challenges are the most significant obstacle in achieving well-being for women. The study highlights that women experience higher levels of financial stress compared to men, primarily due to lower financial confidence, persistent gender pay gaps, and greater caregiving responsibilities.

Lower Financial Confidence

Women report significantly lower confidence in handling complex financial tasks and engaging in financial planning compared to men, even though objective knowledge differences are minimal. This confidence gap inhibits financial engagement and decision-making, increasing stress.

Gender Pay Gap

Women generally earn less than men for equivalent work, reducing financial security and increasing stress around meeting financial needs.

Career Interruptions for Caregiving

Women are more likely to take breaks from paid work for childcare or eldercare, leading to reduced lifetime earnings, savings, and retirement funds, which compounds financial stress.

Higher Likelihood of Poverty

Women, especially of reproductive age and single caregivers, are more likely to live in poor households due to asymmetric earning roles and household composition, increasing vulnerability to financial stress.

Impact on Women’s Well-being

The financial stress faced by women has a profound impact on their well-being. Women consistently report higher levels of psychological distress than men, which is closely linked to financial insecurity. Financial stress undermines mental and physical health, challenges relationships, and lowers overall life satisfaction, creating a cycle that further hampers financial well-being.

Addressing the Disparity

Addressing this disparity requires interventions beyond increasing financial literacy to explicitly build women's financial confidence, plus systemic efforts to reduce pay gaps and support women’s continuous workforce participation. Enhancing financial security for women improves not only their individual health and life quality but also broader social and economic outcomes.

Key Findings

Only 26% of women feel they get adequate exercise.
84% say work-life balance is essential to their well-being, but achieving it is increasingly elusive.
The survey found that 54% of women cite money and finances as a primary source of stress.
The cost of living, paying off debt, and saving for retirement are other top financial stressors impacting women.
44% of female caregivers rate their financial health as fair or poor.
55% of single mothers rate their financial health as fair or poor.
Emotional and physical health also show a gender gap, with 33% of women rating themselves as doing well in those areas (compared to 43% of men).
A mere 11% say they are taking excellent care of their mental health.
Only 29% of women say they manage their finances well (compared to 37% of men).
Only one-third of women rate their physical health as good.
Financial stress has an outsized impact on overall well-being, according to Erin Culek, Guardian's Head of Financial Protection & Retirement Solutions.
Despite 69% of women serving as primary financial decision-makers, only 26% describe their financial health as good.
Just 28% rate themselves as good at eating healthily.

In conclusion, women's higher financial stress arises from a complex interplay of confidence, income inequality, caregiving roles, and poverty risk, which in turn substantially harms their mental health and life quality. It is crucial to address these issues to support women in their pursuit of their physical and mental well-being goals.