Financial vulnerability is the greatest challenge that women face today.

Women often experience gender bias in the workplace, receiving less pay than their male counterparts, take time off work or pursue careers less aggressively than men because they are balancing their roles as employees and mothers.

In addition, many South African women face the challenge of being single parents.

As Women's Day approaches, it is good to focus on financial habits that can move you from financial vulnerability to financial prosperity.

We need to save because it helps us create financial wellbeing as we reach our goals and become financially secure.

We also need to save because we can't predict the future.

Money provides a safety net in cases of an emergency. If we set money aside for emergencies, we can avoid going into debt and incurring expensive interest to pay for these unforeseen expenses.

The increase in value-added tax and higher fuel prices are putting financial pressure on South Africans struggling to make ends meet, but that does not mean you can't save.

You don't have to be earning a lot to start saving.

To save you just need to spend less than you earn. Saving may be as easy as giving up on pleasure spending to save for a goal such as an emergency fund, a family funeral or towards a child's education.

If you invest in a Capitec savings account you will earn about 4.85% interest with full access to the money in case of an emergency. This interest rate is above the current inflation rate of 4.6%.

It is important to save more than inflation to ensure that you grow your savings. Inflation measures how the cost of living rises over time and the buying power or your rands.

If you are already feeling your budget is under pressure, it may be hard to cut back more on the few things to which you still treat yourself, but remember that sacrificing something small could start you on your way to saving yourself into a better financial position.

And when you get there, those savings could be used for the things you want.

By cutting back on two cups of coffee a week for example, you could be saving up to R50 a week, which would add up to R200 a month.

At Capitec you have the option to activate up to four savings plans linked to your account and to name them according to your different savings goals to keep you motivated and committed.

As an example, you could name one savings plan emergency fund and another education to save for your child's school uniforms and books.