Supporting the financial education of girls in Austria
In line with our commitment to DE&I, we are fostering educational equality in Austria. In 2023 our Girls Go Finance initiative, in partnership with Teach for Austria, saw 160 schoolgirls aged between 13 and 15 participate in workshops on important topics such financial literacy, financial matters specific to women, safety on the internet, sustainability and self-confidence.
A total of 11 workshops were offered, primarily created and delivered by female employees from Bank Austria’s Wealth Management & Private Banking Division. One highlight was the “Get into life - how do I budget for the month?” workshop, where attendees learned how to create a household budget based on a specific monthly salary.
The workshops were followed by lunch with music, a photo booth and the ‘financial wheel of fortune’, where participants could win small prizes if they answered financial questions correctly.
The Girls Go Finance day was initiated by Marion Morales Albiñana-Rosner – Member of the Management Board for Wealth Management and Private Banking in Bank Austria – who noticed on visits to local schools that girls tended to be more reserved than boys in the classroom.
I was in the classroom twice and was allowed to design the lessons. I noticed that the girls were much more reserved than the boys. This gave me the idea of organising a day especially for girls. It is still the case in Austria that girls and women do not have the same opportunities as men. They often earn less and therefore have a smaller pension later because they have spent a long time looking after their children. Financial education and the strengthening of self-confidence are important cornerstones to counteract this."
Member of the Management Board responsible for Wealth Management and Private Banking