Financial Literacy and the Retirement Gender Gap: The Role of Cultural Schemas

This qualitative study explores the construction of financial literacy in the context of retirement among young women in Israel, in light of available cultural schemas. The research challenges economic models that rely solely on assumptions of rationality and self-interest, offering a qualitative expansion of the behavioral foundations of financial literacy. Drawing on in-depth interviews of 46 young women, the findings reveal that their perceptions and choices in the financial domain are profoundly shaped by gendered “schemas of devotion”: devotion to work and devotion to family. These schemas give rise to two orientations: women who are more engaged in the financial sphere, characterized by initiative and reflexivity (resistance to the gendered schemas), and women who are more detached, displaying passivity and emotional distance (adoption of these schemas). The study demonstrates how these cultural models contribute to either the reproduction or transformation of gender inequality in retirement. Its main contribution lies in broadening the discipline of economics and positioning gender as a central analytical category—one that is vital for developing more sensitive policies capable of improving the functioning of the economic system and reducing gender gaps.