Women’s empowerment through financial literacy in a developed country

This paper presents the results of a financial literacy intervention conducted in collaboration with two Italian NGOs supporting women in distress, such as those facing unemployment, economic dependency, or domestic abuse. The program consisted of an interactive lecture focused on essential financial concepts, particularly budgeting and savings. Using a phase-in Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design, we assess the impact of this intervention on participants’ financial knowledge and confidence. The findings reveal substantial improvements in both domains, highlighting strong responsiveness to the program. Mediation analysis shows that increases in confidence account for a large share of the observed gains in financial literacy. Furthermore, we identify significant heterogeneity in these outcomes based on women’s socio-demographic characteristics and levels of financial fragility. The intervention has a stronger influence on participants with weaker initial financial literacy, highlighting its potential to reduce knowledge gaps.