A roundup of some stats about women and money in honor of International Women's Day (today) as well as news from this week's monetary policy testimony on Capitol Hill, in addition to some fun tidbits for your weekend.

International Women's Day

March 8th is International Women's Day and the UN theme this year is Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress. (UN Women)

Here are some stats about women and money:

Nearly 60 percent of women’s employment globally is in the informal economy, and in low-income countries it is more than 90 percent. (UN Women)

Evidence shows that closing gender gaps could boost GDP per capita by 20 percent. (WorldBank)

In the U.S., women-owned businesses represent approximately 39% of all businesses, generating $2.7 trillion in revenue. The number of women-owned businesses grew at almost double the rate of men-owned businesses between 2019 and 2023.

Only 1.9% of venture capital funding goes to women-founded startups, despite women-owned startups generating higher returns on the VC they do receive compared to their male counterparts. (Forbes)

Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck expects women to control more than half the wealth in the U.S. after the Great Wealth Transfer will see $84 trillion to $129 trillion passed from Baby Boomers to younger generations. (Yahoo! Finance)

>> Check out more of our Women's History Month resources

The Fed on Capitol Hill

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been giving his semiannual monetary policy testimony on Capitol Hill this week.

Powell suggested the central bank is getting close to the confidence it needs to start lowering interest rates. Policymakers need more evidence that inflation is heading sustainably to the central bank’s 2% goal before acting. (Bloomberg)

He argued that mounting bad commercial real estate loans will likely cause some bank failures, but don’t pose a risk to the overall system. (Fortune)

He also told the Senate Banking Committee that "we're nowhere near recommending – or let alone adopting – a central bank digital currency in any form." (CoinDesk)

>> To understand more about the Federal Reserve, watch our On-Demand module: The Fed: Bank of Banks

In Other News

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule to cut excessive credit card late fees by closing a loophole exploited by large card issuers. Once the final rule goes into effect, it will reduce the typical fee from $32 to $8. (Consumer Finance)

A growing number of youths find wallets unfashionable as they go digital and more commonly use mobile payment apps. (New York Times)

Federal Student Aid recently released a video with a good overview of all of the federal repayment plan options. (Federal Student Aid)

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.