Working Women More Financially Secure Than Men During COVID-19: Survey As per findings of Max Life India Protection Quotient 3.0 (IPQ 3.0), women's term insurance awareness and knowledge index stood at an impressive 64 per cent and 55, respectively

In the backdrop of COVID-19, increasing financial vulnerabilities of individuals and communities, working women have emerged more financially resilient than working men, shows a new survey.

As per findings of Max Life India Protection Quotient 3.0 (IPQ 3.0), women's term insurance awareness and knowledge index—which refers to the degree to which one is aware about life insurance products—stood at an impressive 64 per cent and 55, respectively.

In comparison, working men's awareness stood lower at 62 per cent, whereas knowledge index only a notch up at 57.

Interestingly, women's knowledge index has improved significantly by 11 points in comparison to last year.

"A combination of increased awareness and ownership registered an increase in their (women's) overall protection quotient which stood at 39 for working women now, a significant improvement from 34 as per IPQ 2.0 survey, and almost at par with the protection quotient for working men which stood at 40," the survey stated.

"For the first time, working women have displayed higher awareness of term insurance than working men, and were comparatively more perceptive of the ability of their term insurance cover to ensure complete financial protection," said Aalok Bhan, director and chief marketing officer, Max Life Insurance. "In a day and age where women are increasingly becoming the financial decision makers, it is heartening to observe this trend."

Women Increasingly Prioritising Savings and Financial Planning

Women are prioritizing savings and investments over discretionary spending as these two components together constituted 52 per cent of income for working women, as per IPQ 3.0. After savings and investments, basic expenses made up 39 per cent of total income, followed by luxury expenses at 9 per cent.

The survey also shows that with a sense of increasing worries and reducing security in the view of the pandemic, working women are motivated about financial planning. As much as two-third women respondents said they are proactive about financial planning now, almost at part with 70 per cent working men.

As the pandemic has squarely brought the focus on the importance of fitness, IPQ3.0 shows women have prioritised their own and family's health. A sizable 74 per cent working women as opposed to 72 per cent working men said they actively look for products that will improve immunity and 73 per cent working women said they pay attention to health and fitness regime.

Corporates are also now taking the lead to ackowledge the critical role of women in their organisation and are working towards reducing pay gap. Hindustan Power recently announced three awards dedicated to its female employees for the first time to acknowledge the efforts of women associates who have been working in different functions and contributing to the company's growth.