Women are more involved in the purchase of insurance and other major family buying decisions, but are less financially literate than their male counterparts -- that’s the word from a new study from Statistics Canada assessing financial literacy.

The Canadian Financial Capability Survey also identified that with baby boomers coming up to retirement women are likely to have greater control over an increasing pool of wealth; and with a longer average life expectancy, many women are likely to be in control of spending and savings decisions into their later years.

However, according to the study, which was composed of 14 questions on the subject of stocks, debt, inflation and other concepts, the performance of women was lower than that of men to a statistically significant extent, with an average score of 59% among women who answered the questions, as opposed to the 62% scored by men.

“Financial management may be more of a challenge for women,” wrote Marie Drolet a senior researcher in the labour statistics division, “since they have lower levels of financial literacy and have less confidence in their financial skills.”