Women have a complicated relationship with money and it begins at birth.
Why do parents want a boy over a girl? Because, the boy will grow up and take ‘care’ of them. For the girls, who manage to make it to this world, it continues at every step of their lives. They are told they are not good at maths. They don’t need a high paying job. What they need is a settled job so that they can easily manage work and home. Why do women want to learn how to save? They have their fathers , brothers and husbands! Trust the men to take care of their women.
Oh, most importantly, women must remember that they can’t handle money. They are just not good at it! Women and finance? Nah!
We women have lived and heard it all. We have literally been told these things so many times that a lot of us live our lives believing these things. Here are a few more voices that agree and share some very interesting observations:
The head of the household, and by extension the financial manager, is often a male. There is a perception that men are better at handling money, and women will just squander it all away on clothes and shoes. Gender stereotyping red flag!
— Sangat (@SangatNetwork) January 25, 2018
They aren’t even made part of conversations that center around finances. Oftentimes, they aren’t even aware of their families’ finances. #GirlsTalkMoney
— RedElephant (@TheRedElephnt) January 25, 2018
Look at tv ads of bank loans. Most of them advise ppl to save cash for ‘daughter’s weddings’, but ads never show daughters discussing finances. Rather boys are shown in these ads #GirlsTalkMoney
— Super BlueBlooded Moon (@firingouty) January 25, 2018
It excludes them, disregards their right over their finances, and completely negates their personal agency when it comes to money matters. #GirlsTalkMoney
— RedElephant (@TheRedElephnt) January 25, 2018
in a domestic cylinder tv ad, the cylinder delivery guy advises a female consumer to ‘put a lid on vessels and end up saving 20 % cash’, if she was keen to buy more things in future. Markets thus harp on sexist notions that women alone cook and are spendthrifts #GirlsTalkMoney
— Super BlueBlooded Moon (@firingouty) January 25, 2018
There was a Tamil ad (I think 2015-2016) where Prakash Raj is seen walking into a frame and talking to the family about their liability – i.e., their daughters – and the ad was selling jewellery. That attitude keeps women away from financial discussions. #GirlsTalkMoney
— RedElephant (@TheRedElephnt) January 25, 2018
“Why do you want control? What are you going to do with all that money? Buy more ridiculously expensive shoes?” Economic independence when demanded leads to suspicion, because privacy for women’s lives is not recognized #GirlsTalkMoney
— Sangat (@SangatNetwork) January 25, 2018
Not sure if this directly answers the question, but we’ve known young women who’ve stepped up to ask about their finances / to be involved in their finances, who were met with with emotional blackmail. “How dare you ask us this, don’t you trust us?” #GirlsTalkMoney
— RedElephant (@TheRedElephnt) January 25, 2018
So, what are we going to do about it? We are going to get people talking, specifically girls and women! We will talk finance. We will talk about the credit we are owed and the debts we have been burdened with. So, do join us because this tax season is going to get super interesting!
On two recent episodes of nbsp; HerMoney podcast, I interviewed two intelligent, educated, successful women — Brene nbsp;Brown, author of “Rising Strong” nbsp;and creator of one of the most-viewed nbsp; TED Talks nbsp;of all time and behavioral economist Sarah Newcomb, author of the new book “Loaded: nbsp;Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead without Leaving Your Values Behind.” These two women had something else in common, too: complicated relationships with money.