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Gender differences in investment behaviour in Norway — causes, consequences and the way forward.
We cheer on women who want to be passive in index funds — but also those who want to learn stock-picking and invest in start-ups.
This is a Stack by me report produced by and with Professor Ellen Katrine Nyhus at the University of Agder. We hope it will continue to motivate women across the Nordics to keep investing more — and to invest more actively. Only when we women become as active as men will the capital gap eventually close.
We want to help make the Oslo Stock Exchange 50% owned by women — and to see half of the listings on the exchange led by women. There is still some way to go before these goals are met, but we hope this report can inspire more women to get involved.
This report is part of the preliminary project “Exploring how behavioural science and digital tools can strengthen women’s risk-taking and stock-market participation,” and documents the project’s activities and findings. Project funding was granted by Vestfold County Council through the FORREGION-Vestfold scheme. The project is a collaboration between Stack by me and the University of Agder.
Through interviews, literature reviews and evaluation, the project seeks to better understand what influences women’s investment choices, and to identify ways to increase women’s willingness to invest through the Stack by me app. The main goal is to develop knowledge that can be used to further develop Stack by me’s services.
The first part presents the background to the project — a concise review of gender differences in investment behaviour in Norway, along with factors that may help explain the observed differences: financial literacy, risk preferences, information-seeking and cultural factors. It also presents findings from two Norwegian surveys of financial literacy (2018 and 2022).
The second part presents findings from studies that have sought to influence women’s investment behaviour through various interventions. These can serve as a starting point for developing and testing measures in Norway — and the report concludes with suggestions for how this could be done within an investment app.
The title — From “Tradwife” to “Tradewife”? — is inspired by the tradwife movement that has gained attention on social media in recent years. The movement promotes traditional gender roles, in which women take care of the home and are provided for by their partner. Our thesis is the opposite: a more equal economy requires more women to take active ownership.
Despite Norway being one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, significant gender differences in investment behaviour and wealth-building still persist.
On average, women invest less in shares and equity funds than men, and generally take lower financial risk. This means men are more likely to earn higher returns on their wealth, receive dividends and build larger financial assets over time. Differences in stock-market participation have also widened somewhat in recent years — even as more and more women begin to invest.
Research points to several possible explanations. On average, women have lower income and wealth, which limits how much they can invest. At the same time, social norms, stereotypes and a lack of role models all shape how women assess their own competence. Studies also show that women often report lower financial confidence and are more likely to answer “don’t know” to finance questions — even when the actual knowledge gap is smaller than the test results suggest.
Lower participation in capital markets has long-term consequences. When women invest less in the stock market, they also share less in the returns from economic growth. This contributes to persistent differences in wealth, financial security and pensions between women and men.
Studies show, among other things, that greater financial literacy, simpler investment solutions, female advisers, role models, and a lower threshold for making that first investment can all have a major effect. Experience with investing increases both financial confidence and the likelihood of continuing to invest. Digital investment platforms that combine learning, accessible tools and a low threshold can therefore play an important role in reducing gender differences in financial markets.
In most countries where it has been studied, women are found to invest less money in the stock market and take less financial risk than men.1
We see the same in Norway (Gram, 2020), even though an ever-larger share of women are buying shares and/or equity funds. Statistics from Statistics Norway show that a smaller share of women than men own shares, and that the gap between the sexes has widened slightly over time.
In 2014 the difference in the share owning shares was 8.9 percentage points, while in 2024 it was 11.7 percentage points. Although the share owning shares has risen among both men and women — and although the percentage growth is highest among women — the gender gap in share ownership has nonetheless increased.
1 Hira & Loibl, 2008.
The figure also shows a consequence of more men owning shares: more men receive dividends, which is a contributing factor to the income gap between women and men. In 2014 the gender difference in the share receiving dividends was 4.7 percentage points; by 2024 it had risen to 6.9 percentage points.
The difference in dividends received has grown markedly. In 2006 the difference between men and women was NOK 3,724. The figures show this grew to NOK 25,288 in 2014 and to a full NOK 49,891 in 2024 — a 13-fold increase since 2006. The difference in the value of the share capital itself has, however, narrowed over the same period (from NOK 46,912 in 2006 to NOK 36,043 in 2024).
The share savings account (ASK) covers equity funds with at least 80 percent in shares. Here the differences between the sexes have grown over time since the scheme was established. While the gap was NOK 20,300 in 2017, it had more than tripled to NOK 66,300 in 2024.
According to the Norwegian Fund and Asset Management Association, the share of Norwegians with savings plans in equity and balanced funds is rising, and women have started more savings plans than men in recent years. This may be a sign that the gender differences are smaller among younger age groups than older ones.
The statistics show that gender inequalities in investment behaviour — and their consequences for wealth and income — are highly relevant in Norway too.
The asymmetry in financial choices, where women typically take lower financial risk than men, is substantial. Over time, women’s lower participation in the stock market helps reinforce gender differences in both income and wealth.
To understand why these differences persist — and what can actually change them — we need to look at the underlying causes. Research points to several interacting explanations:
Each of these explanations is examined in the chapters that follow. We conclude with a review of measures that research shows can help reduce the gap — and how they are put into practice in the Stack by me app.
One reason women invest less in the stock market is that they have less to invest — and therefore less money they can afford to lose. On average, Norwegian women have both lower income and less wealth than men (Epland, 2021; Strand, 2026), and this affects how much money they can save and invest.
These differences do not, however, explain the entire gap in investment behaviour. In a study of four European countries, Barasinska and Schäfer (2018) found that women are less likely to invest in the stock market than men — and that the difference persists after controlling for risk tolerance, education level, age and wealth.
The Norwegian survey Financial literacy in the Norwegian population (Nyhus, 2023) shows the same pattern: women more often cite finances as a barrier to investing.
Limited finances are thus one reason for not investing, but fewer than 20 percent say it is the main reason. Other factors weigh more heavily.
Another cause of gender differences may be social norms and the traditional division of roles within a household. This can mean that women do not read the same financial information as men — and therefore have not acquired the same knowledge.
Barasinska and Schäfer (2018) studied four European countries — Bulgaria, France, Germany and Italy — using the World Economic Forum’s gender-equality index as a measure of how supportive the environment is for female investors. In every country, women reported a lower willingness to take financial risk — but when risk preferences were included in the models, gender was no longer a significant variable. The exception was Italy, which had the lowest score on the gender-equality index. The authors interpret this as evidence that gender-related norms lead Italian women to invest less than their risk preferences would suggest.
The difference in dividends received has grown markedly. In 2006 the difference between men and women was NOK 3,724. The figures show this grew to NOK 25,288 in 2014 and to a full NOK 49,891 in 2024 — a 13-fold increase since 2006. The difference in the value of the share capital itself has, however, narrowed over the same period (from NOK 46,912 in 2006 to NOK 36,043 in 2024).
The share savings account (ASK) covers equity funds with at least 80 percent in shares. Here the differences between the sexes have grown over time since the scheme was established. While the gap was NOK 20,300 in 2017, it had more than tripled to NOK 66,300 in 2024.
According to the Norwegian Fund and Asset Management Association, the share of Norwegians with savings plans in equity and balanced funds is rising, and women have started more savings plans than men in recent years. This may be a sign that the gender differences are smaller among younger age groups than older ones.
The statistics show that gender inequalities in investment behaviour — and their consequences for wealth and income — are highly relevant in Norway too.
The asymmetry in financial choices, where women typically take lower financial risk than men, is substantial. Over time, women’s lower participation in the stock market helps reinforce gender differences in both income and wealth.
To understand why these differences persist — and what can actually change them — we need to look at the underlying causes. Research points to several interacting explanations:
Each of these explanations is examined in the chapters that follow. We conclude with a review of measures that research shows can help reduce the gap — and how they are put into practice in the Stack by me app.
One reason women invest less in the stock market is that they have less to invest — and therefore less money they can afford to lose. On average, Norwegian women have both lower income and less wealth than men (Epland, 2021; Strand, 2026), and this affects how much money they can save and invest.
These differences do not, however, explain the entire gap in investment behaviour. In a study of four European countries, Barasinska and Schäfer (2018) found that women are less likely to invest in the stock market than men — and that the difference persists after controlling for risk tolerance, education level, age and wealth.
The Norwegian survey Financial literacy in the Norwegian population (Nyhus, 2023) shows the same pattern: women more often cite finances as a barrier to investing.
Limited finances are thus one reason for not investing, but fewer than 20 percent say it is the main reason. Other factors weigh more heavily.
Another cause of gender differences may be social norms and the traditional division of roles within a household. This can mean that women do not read the same financial information as men — and therefore have not acquired the same knowledge.
Barasinska and Schäfer (2018) studied four European countries — Bulgaria, France, Germany and Italy — using the World Economic Forum’s gender-equality index as a measure of how supportive the environment is for female investors. In every country, women reported a lower willingness to take financial risk — but when risk preferences were included in the models, gender was no longer a significant variable. The exception was Italy, which had the lowest score on the gender-equality index. The authors interpret this as evidence that gender-related norms lead Italian women to invest less than their risk preferences would suggest.
When the man in a US household works in finance, the family participates in the stock market more often than when the woman does.
Ke (2021) compared US households in which either the man or the woman worked in the financial sector. Households participate in the stock market more often when the man works in finance — even after controlling for education, income, wealth and other demographic characteristics. This is interpreted as evidence that gender-identity norms limit women’s influence over the household’s financial decisions.
The author found no support for alternative explanations such as women having greater risk aversion or lower confidence, men in finance holding more senior positions than women, or women having fewer meetings that provide important investor information. The finding points to norms — not competence or position — as the driving factor.
When the maths problem is about finance, women perform worse — even though the arithmetic is identical.
A Swedish study examined the role of stereotype threat in explaining gender differences in financial literacy (Tinghög et al., 2021). Stereotype threat refers to psychological processes in which group stereotypes affect how individuals assess themselves — and thereby their performance, so that it confirms the stereotypes.
The researchers compared answers to two mathematically identical problems — one framed around finance (interest calculation) and the other around growth in a mouse population. Women did significantly worse when the problem contained financial terms — so the difference is not due to numeracy.
An earlier US study (Carr & Steele, 2010) showed that stereotype threat increased women’s loss and risk aversion. Across three experiments, they found that the gender differences only appeared when negative stereotypes about women’s abilities were salient — a result of cultural factors and norms, not genetics.
The Danish anthropology student Signe Højland interviewed 17 women about their investments (Madsen, 2025). A recurring theme was that many felt women do not know enough about investing — attitudes shaped by films such as The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, which were used to explain a perceived exclusion from the stock market.
The women were also concerned that one needed a great deal of knowledge and control to handle risk. Several had experienced fathers teaching their sons about the stock market while overlooking their daughters.
Ylva Baeckström (2025) carried out a thorough review of how women and men are portrayed in films and series about finance. In an analysis of 12 films and four TV series released between 2009 and 2024, she found that the portrayals largely follow negative gender stereotypes.
The men are experts — the women are supporting characters such as wives, partners, administrative assistants, or are cast in sexualised roles. When a woman does reach the top of the finance world, she is given stereotypically alpha-male traits.
A comparison of the roles showed that women were portrayed as less knowledgeable, confident and risk-willing than men in equivalent roles. Another typical feature was that the series contained demeaning behaviour towards, and talk about, women.
Although newer productions feature more successful women in finance, there is still considerable room for improvement. Investing appears to be culturally coded as “masculine” — and to some extent women feel it may be viewed negatively if they are engaged in finance.
Even though Norway is among the most gender-equal countries in the world, large gender differences in financial literacy are still observed.
Several international surveys show large gender differences in financial literacy in men’s favour (Klapper et al., 2015). Since there is a positive relationship between financial literacy and the propensity to invest (van Rooij et al., 2011), women’s lower financial literacy may partly explain why they participate less.
In 2018, the Norwegian level of knowledge was measured with 50 questions covering 10 different financial topics (Nyhus, 2023). Women had significantly fewer correct answers than men on almost all topics — the exceptions being questions about bank accounts and payments. The gender gap was largest for topics related to investing, inflation and saving.
One reason for the difference in correct answers is that women have a greater tendency to answer “I don’t know.” It has been argued that women’s lower number of correct answers is due to uncertainty and a lack of confidence in their own knowledge, more than an actual difference in knowledge (Bucher-Koenen et al., 2025).
To investigate this, a new survey was carried out in 2022. The sample was randomly split into two groups: Group 1 was given “don’t know” as an answer option, Group 2 was not. When the “don’t know” option was removed, the gender differences in correct answers were substantially reduced.
The drawback of measuring this way is that those who do not know the answer are forced to guess. With only 2–4 answer options, many will still pick the correct answer by chance. This can make the measured level of knowledge appear higher than it actually is.
A lack of knowledge was cited as an important reason for not owning shares by 47.8 percent of women who do not own shares, and 35 percent of women who did not own equity funds. The corresponding figures for men were 33 percent and 25.4 percent respectively. 26.7 percent of women also said it was “too difficult” to invest in shares (versus 12.6 percent of men).
Asked what it would take for them to buy shares, 30.2 percent of women versus 22.4 percent of men cited “better knowledge.” Women were more likely to call for more information (15.4% vs. 12%) and for buying to be easy (14% vs. 10.9%).
Measures that increase knowledge of the stock market and simplify the buying process therefore appear able to raise the share who own shares or equity funds — among both women and men — and the effect of such measures may be greatest among women.
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