Becca Stacey, Senior Research Officer, Money and Mental Health Policy Institute

Through the lens: Gender, money and mental health

21 September 2022

In the first of our Through the lens series, looking at how money and mental health interact with a number of different demographics, this paper explores how gender can impact our financial and mental wellbeing. 

Across a range of financial indicators, people with mental health problems fare worse on average than people without such conditions. However, our latest analysis reveals there are notable inequalities within this population. We find that women with mental health problems are seven percentage points more likely to find keeping up with domestic bills and credit commitments a burden than men with mental health problems. This is in contrast to a 2 percentage point difference between men and women without mental health problems. Our analysis also explores the experiences of men and women disclosing their financial difficulties and mental health problems to health professionals and essential services firms, and the support they receive as a result. 

We’re calling for employers, the NHS and essential service providers to take urgent action to address the reduced financial resilience that people with mental health problems face.

We also reflect on the lack of available data on the experiences of trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people. To ensure future analysis is more representative, we’re urging government departments to commit to improved inclusive reporting.

This is the first in a series of reports exploring how different demographics interact with money and mental health. Our research on the link between age, money and mental health problems, the second paper, can be found here. Our third paper, on the links between ethnicity, money and mental health, can be found here.