Should training be gender specific?

There’s an issue that I have been wrestling with for years, ever since I launched an educational initiative for women investors at Schwab. At the time, a prominent journalist with a major news publication criticized the program on the grounds that it was demeaning to treat women any differently than men. She objected to a gender-based approach to personal finance in principle.

Fair enough. It didn’t sit well with me, but that was her opinion. And years later, I still see both sides. So now I’d like to pose the question to you: when it comes to money, should financial professionals talk to women differently than we talk to men?

Let me be clear. I passionately believe that all women must be financially capable and independent. It’s inexcusable that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, we earn roughly three-quarters of what men earn for the same work. And with women working roughly 12 years less than men over the course of their careers—taking time off to care for children or ailing parents—we have a lot less time to save, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute. It’s no wonder that far more women than men struggle to make ends meet in retirement.

So given the unique challenges many women face, the question is how can we as financial professionals have the maximum impact in helping them achieve their financial goals?

On the one hand, it’s obvious that we’ll be most effective if we talk to women in a way that resonates. We should always strive to meet people where they are — regardless of their gender, age, or socioeconomic status. If women are more comfortable going to a women-only seminar, we should host women-only seminars. If women care about different issues than men, we should address those issues. And it would follow that if women respond to different language or a different approach, we should adopt those practices.

On the other hand, I cringe at the idea of ever ‘going pink.’ This is not about talking down to women. I am surrounded by highly intelligent, strong women in my personal and professional lives, and I would feel like a fraud if I didn’t treat every person with equal regard and respect. I refuse to provide women with anything less rigorous than what we give men.

Alternatively, perhaps both men AND women deserve a fresh approach that does a better job of connecting our financial lives to our personal lives. In fact, I believe that we would all benefit by axing the complicated instructions and the cryptic jargon. I believe we all need better tools for making sound decisions.

This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz is President of Charles Schwab Foundation.

Image: An employee holds a spanner as she works at the Krasnobrodskaya-Koksovaya coal-preparation plant. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin