ISLAMABAD: 47 percent Pakistani women claim to make important financial decisions in consultation with their husbands while only 23 percent Pakistani men make important financial decisions in consultation with their wives, said survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan. According to special press release, women within the context of the developing world and especially within Pakistan continue to be more excluded from the financial sector than men thereby also relying upon their spouses when it comes to making important financial decisions. Not only is there a wide gap between the numbers of women who make financial related decisions independently compared to men like lower proportion of women than men. This is in fact a much higher proportion of women compared to men who consult their spouses before making such decisions. A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the four provinces was asked, “Please tell, how do you make important financial decisions”. In response to this question, 11 percent said that they make the decisions alone, 35 percent said that they make the decision in consultation with spouse, 28 percent said that they make the decision in consultation with other members of the household, 18 percent said that they make the decision in consultation with head of household and three percent said that they make the decision in consultation with someone else. On the other hand, five percent said that they do not make these decisions and 1 percent did not respond. An analysis of result according to a gender breakdown reveals noticeable differences in the decision-making behavior of males and females. 18 percent men said that they make these decisions alone contrasted by a very low four percent of women who gave the same response. Likewise, 23 percent men said that they make decisions in consultation with spouse while the same response was given by nearly half like 47 percent of the women. The differences are reflected in other responses too 33 percent of the men and 22 percent of the women said that they make decisions in consultation with other members of the household; 20 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women said that they make decisions in consultation with head of the household; two percent of the men and three percent of the women said that they make decisions in consultation with someone else; while two percent of the men and nine percent of the women said that they do not make these decisions. A gendered bias is thus evident in these responses, signifying that a greater number of women do not make financial related decisions whereas out of those women who do make such decisions, most women are likely to consult their spouse as opposed to any other member of their household regarding their decision. The provincial breakdown of these results has also shown differences in decision making behavior in the four provinces. A very low number of respondents in Punjab, which is eight percent, said that they make financial related decisions alone while the same response was given by 19 percent of the respondents in Sindh, 11 percent in KP and 18 percent in Balochistan. Likewise, a very high 41 percent of respondents in Punjab said that they make decisions in consultation with spouse while only 23 percent in Sindh, 33 percent in KP and 15 percent gave the same response. Regarding other family members 27 percent respondents in Punjab, 25percent in Sindh, 32percent in KPK and 42percent in Balochistan said they consult their household members for decisions pertaining to financial matters. Thus there seems to be a very high proportion of respondents in Punjab who give importance to their spouse contribution in financial related matters. The Access to Finance Survey 2015, A2F 2015, aims to create a platform for the State Bank, the Government and the private sector of Pakistan to adopt and implement a comprehensive set of reforms needed to influence financial inclusion among Pakistanis in a more holistic manner. A2F 2015 will help state and non-state actors in streamlining their policies and reforms to ensure that they are able to effectively target the financial inclusivity of the Pakistani public. Gallup Pakistan in collaboration with HORUS Development Finance conducted an extensive survey in over10,000 households across Pakistan. The primary aim of the study was to determine the extent of financial services being used by Pakistanis as well as to provide insights into the barriers faced by the Pakistani public in accessing formal financial services. The data was released as part of Access to Finance Study 2015. The fieldwork carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International, among a sample of 10,000 households across rural and urban areas of all four provinces of Pakistan during March 27 to June 12, 2015. The error margin is estimated to be approximately 2 to 3 percent at 95 percent confidence level.