Money lessons for our daughters essential
Addressing the gender gap starts at home, writes Hannah McQueen.
Itell my daughter ‘‘life is going to be harder for you than for your brother’’. I don’t tell her that to discourage her, I tell her that because it’s the truth and I want her to be prepared.
In my job, I meet many smart, resourceful, driven women who have accomplished much.
But for all the progress made in the 125 years since Kiwi women won the right to vote, too little has changed in the way women deal with money, and the way we share the load at home.
The week of International Women’s Day seems as good a time as any to talk about it.
First – to the statistics, which are stark. Ninety per cent of women feel insecure about their finances.
Money is the leading cause of insomnia among women. Mums get paid 17 per cent less than Dads do.
The poverty rate for separated women is nearly three times that of separated men. Women see their incomes fall 20 per cent postdivorce, while men’s rise more than 30 per cent.
Women are nearly twice as likely to retire poor, and of course, they tend to live longer.
All of that is before you even get to oft-quoted numbers on the pay gap and the under-representation of women in the top echelons of business.
There’s no doubt we’ve made progress, but too often I see smart women relinquishing control of their own financial circumstances to their spouse.
Too often I see broken relationships that leave the woman in an unenviable financial position.
Too often I see women in second marriages, or who have significantly more assets than their spouse, failing to protect the wealth they bring to the partnership.
Too often women intermingle inheritances into the family finances, then lose half of it when the relationship fails.
Perhaps #TooOften needs to be added to the hashtags of the women’s movement, because too often we’re making ourselves vulnerable by wanting to be generous, wanting to keep the peace, or wanting to please, in the absence of self-preservation.
These choices are important, because they’re modelling behaviour for our daughters. We already prepare our sons better for financial success than our daughters.
Studies show 23 per cent of parents take time to discuss investing and finances with their sons, but only 13 per cent do that with their daughters. The gender gap starts at home – and it shouldn’t.
Take the time to explain to your daughters that they can be financially successful without a partner.
Teach them to protect what they’ve worked for. Make sure the workload at home is shared, give equal pay for chores and also equal opportunity to complete different jobs.
But also consider what sort of lessons you might also be inadvertently giving them through your choices.
Your daughters will likely face more financial challenges than your sons, but you can prepare them for that and it starts with modelling the behaviour they will need to succeed.