DEMOGRAPHIC DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S FINANCIAL EDUCATION: HUMAN CAPITAL, THE SDGS AND THE PATH TO VIKSIT BHARAT 2047

Financial education has emerged as a critical instrument for promoting women's economic empowerment and achieving inclusive growth, particularly in developing economies. In India, women's participation in economic development depends on financial inclusion, digital finance, and informed financial decision-making. Despite a number of government initiatives, inequalities in financial knowledge continue to limit women's ability for effective utilization and accessibility of financial services. The present study empirically examines the influence of demographic characteristics (age, education, occupation, place of residence and bank account ownership) on women's financial education. A structured questionnaire was administered to 130 women respondents selected through convenience sampling from Lucknow district. Financial education was measured using five dimensions, namely savings and budgeting, banking and financial products, government schemes and borrowing awareness, digital financial literacy, and financial planning and consumer rights. Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were employed using IBM SPSS version 25. The model was statistically significant (chi-square = 21.648, df = 11, p = .027), but demographic characteristics explained only about 6.3% of the variation in financial education (McFadden R-squared = 0.063). Women aged 31-40 had significantly lower financial education than the reference age group (B = -1.751, p = .031), while education, occupation, place of residence and bank account ownership showed directional differences that were not statistically significant. The present study contributes to the growing literature on financial education by providing empirical evidence supporting policies aimed at strengthening women's financial capabilities and advancing inclusive growth, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.