Women thinking about money…$$$$

A long time ago when flowers grew in the bottom of every garden – alongside the tomato and bean bushes, lettuce plants and cabbage, beside the dunny but in front of the clothes line, to try and mask the dunny smell – women might not have had to think of money. Most women had “men”/”husbands” and, if they didn’t they were spinsters who lived with their parents (fathers - men) or their married sister/s who had “men”/”husbands”.

It was these “men”/”husbands” who thought about money. They earned the money; dictated how it was spent; organised housing or shelter (which the women duly decorated and made liveable on the money they were given for the purpose). Men bought and sold cars, houses, investments.

Women kept their heads nicely in the sand and remained ignorant of money. Mostly they were lucky and were not left in debt by deserving men.

But…… there came a time when women wanted more than household slavery and child-bearing. The feminist revolution (remember that…………aahhh – a wistful sigh) woke them up and women realised the connections between money and power.

Present
That was the past and this is now.

Women do think about money. Or, if they don’t, they should, because as the “Women’s Institute for Finance Education” www.wife.org so aptly state it on one of their bumper stickers: “A man is not a financial plan”.

Women need to start thinking about money in High School. Will they be able to afford to go to university? What kind of job do they want? Where do they want to live and with whom? Do they want a car? Life now demands that you plan your finances very carefully.

And yet, women are still losing out and ending up with sexually transmitted debt http://www.wire.org.au/womensinfo/women_and_debt.php when relationships break up. Women are also not always taking full control of their own or shared finances.

There are, however, some women who are sharing the financial decision-making, making their own financial decisions, or taking the leading role in making decisions for the partnership/relationship in which they share financial interests.

This, after all, would seem quite logical [Yet is still “radical” and unthinkable for some men.] as women now earn money, pay bills, organise childcare, or health insurance, or other related expenditure. Women have their names on mortgages and loan documents and need to be keeping an eye of their future. Women are also more likely to exercise discipline and scrutinise financial transactions then men.

So let’s continue thinking about money and have more financial successes, similar to those of the Grameen Bank, founded by Muhammad Yunus, who received The Nobel Peace Prize 2006 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/yunus-lecture-en.html . This bank lends to women in poor countries to enable them to establish business and become financially independent. Demonstrating the financial responsibility of women is the fact that very few ever default on their loan.

This is proof that when women think about money, or have the opportunity to exercise financial responsibility, they take the matters seriously and can succeed.


References:

The Women’s Institute for Financial Education http://www.wife.org/ accessed 21/1/07

Women and Debt http://www.wire.org.au/womensinfo/women_and_debt.php accessed 21/1/07

Mohammed Yunus – Nobel Lecture http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/yunus-lecture-en.html accessed 21/7/06