Women's Risk Tolerance in Indonesia

Abstract

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) survey on 2016 shows that the financial literacy index in Indonesia is 21.8% approximately. There are a lot of illegal investment in the Indonesian society in recent years is proof that the Indonesian people have not been well-literated and have not fully understood the benefits and risks of investment. Efforts to improve financial literacy are aimed at certain groups of people such as women and housewives. Risk factors are important in financial decisions. Previous research has concluded that women often avoid risk and are more intolerant of risk than men. This study aims to determine whether risk tolerance in women is different from men. Data collection techniques were carried out using questionnaires distributed online to 850 samples of Indonesian people representing three regions of Indonesia, namely the western, central and eastern regions of Indonesia. The results showed that there were no significant differences between women and men in terms of risk tolerance, these results indicate that both women and men have identical viewpoint of risk. The government could conduct education and increase public knowledge without differentiating financial products for women and men.