More women should be in for the money
Advice to young women needs to get real about jobs and finances, writes Alexia Hilbertidou.
Ihate to be the Grinch, but it’s time young women knew the truth: There is no white horse, there is no knight in shining armour, and there is no security in relying on someone else for your financial stability.
This fairytale persists to foster a sense of financial dependence in women, and it is doing us harm.
The fact is women need to start talking about money in a constructive way, and we need to stop feeling ashamed when we do.
While it is now OK to covet powerful roles such as prime minister or chief executive, it is still considered unseemly for a young woman to be doing something ‘‘for the money’’.
From teachers, to police to founders, for a woman to admit that, yes they go to work each day because they ‘‘want the money’’, is still very much frowned upon.
In the same way that, by in large, some of the big issues facing men can be fixed only by other men, I’m asking women to take responsibility for fixing this one.
When you tell your daughter that you’re no good at maths, when you laugh off your ignorance around money and when you blame others for your financial situation you are just perpetuating the cycle of dependence.
Recently I got talking to a woman in her 50s who rented out a unit under her house. I asked how much she rented it out for. She immediately declared that she ‘‘isn’t in it for the money’’. Ah, what? So what is she in it for?
‘‘Well, it does help pay the mortgage,’’ she sheepishly admitted. How is this not being ‘‘in it for the money’’? And why did she find it necessary to be so apologetic about the fact that she received income?
This attitude prevails in my age group, too. I remember asking a friend how much his parents’ house sold for and being rounded on by female friends for being so ‘‘rude’’.
If we maintain this idea that it is not comely to talk about money how is a young girl ever going to grow up with the confidence to negotiate a pay rise, make major financial decisions, and ask the questions she needs to ask?
It’s not cute to play dumb when it comes to money and even if you are fortunate enough to have gotten away with it, you can be damn sure it won’t work for your daughter.
You are the number one role model in your daughter’s life. No matter what she learns at school, or in books, it is your behaviour that will most influence her.
Are you encouraging your daughter to take charge of her own financial situation? I hope so.
You can bet that savvy New Zealand business leaders like Theresa Gattung and Commissioner for Financial Capability Diane Maxwell downright reject the notion that money is no matter for young madams.
I felt like standing up and cheering at a recent Women in Business event when, upon listening to two women speakers saying that they are ‘‘hopeless with money and don’t like to handle the finances’’, Gattung stood up to call them out.
She told of her frustration when a woman she was mentoring didn’t even know the turnover of her own business.
If we want to address the issue of only 3 per cent of global venture capital funding going to women, we need to start with ourselves and take responsibility for understanding our personal and business financials.
Maxwell, too, is an excellent role model and I wish that every young woman in New Zealand had a chance to hear her story. She makes no bones about the fact that she wishes she invested earlier and she advises young women to ensure that the careers they choose will pay enough to sustain them when they have children and to enable them to save for retirement.
Women retire, on average, with $80,000 less than men. This, combined with the wave of digitisation set to impact industries women dominate in, such as retail and administration, plus a growing gig economy, makes it a matter of urgency for every young Kiwi woman to have a set of business and financial capabilities and attitudes.
At GirlBoss New Zealand, our mantra is: ‘‘Only 2 per cent of NZX CEOs are women. We’re changing that.’’ But we won’t be changing it unless we adjust the way women look at and talk about money.
Recent research, published in the Harvard Business Review, interviewed female CEOs to determine what helped them to achieve their success. The results showed that 40 per cent had a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) background and 20 per cent had a business or finance background.
With only 3 per cent of 15-yearold women in New Zealand interested in a tech career, we have urgent work to do.
I meet a lot of young male founders who proudly tell me of their ambitions to ‘‘exit in a year for millions’’. In contrast many young female founders proudly declare ‘‘It’s not about the money for me,’’ or ‘‘Oh, I don’t focus on the finances.’’ At best they might guiltily confess that ‘‘Yes, we do hope to be profitable.’’
Career advice needs to get real, too. I’m all for telling young women to follow their passions, but if it is not followed up with strategies to commercialise those passions, or to invest their income smartly, then our well-meaning advice could in fact increase economic inequality.
In the same way we need to tell boys it’s OK to cry, we need to tell our girls that it’s OK to charge.
❚ Alexia Hilbertidou is the founder and chief executive of GirlBoss New Zealand.