Since I started writing back in June, Iâve been a prevalent advocate for promoting financial and digital literacy amongst females to help break this gender gap that is frankly not getting slimmer.
As a female student, Iâm sad to say, nothing has convinced more women besides colorful and weak Insta posts and fantasy stories of women lead startups for a hot sec.
After that, no action is taken.
I don’t strive to read 100 books by year’s end.
I read 5 per year and make sure everything is applied in my life, else, it was a waste of my time!
We may never know but I do have some clues after asking my 10 close friends why they avoid money talk:
1) The influx and overload of information
2) Too much time
3) Boring
4) Not knowing where to start
5) Too personal and not handled until I buy a home
I definitely felt this way when first learning about finance and in fact I wouldn’t be here spreading awareness about it if the worst thing in my life didn’t happen when my father passed away.
One day after school, I opened the door and he was there, lying unconsciously on the floor.
He was the money manager of the household and thankfully my mother has always been employed on Wall Street and knew what he was doing with our portfolio and investments, so we were covered but I knew most females and wives, ain’t got a clue.
And this is your fault.
Learning English and your finances shouldn’t have age requirements.
Who says you need to start learning when you graduate and make money?
You should have it all lined up before you get your first paycheck so you are all set up and make sure you don’t blow it!
Why do we rely on one person to make the household income and manage everything we own?
For me that is frightening and I’m glad it was, otherwise my mom and I wouldn’t have gotten to work and sat down evaluating our financial situation and goals.
Stop making finance such a secretive subject.
We all make, love, use, spend money!
We need more help and are too scared to ask for it.
This is sad that we have to be beaten or go through something to understand how important it is.
We are just stubborn creatures that way.
But I’m here to tell you that it should never be that way.
From your poor diet to your procrastination, waiting until you gain 50 lbs or get a bad grade, shouldn’t be the reasons to start fixing the problem.
Understanding what is holding you back and your preconceived judgments, assumptions, and opinions are key.
86% of this audience is female which is understandable since Iâm female after all and there are immense stereotypes about us women that men seem to not want to argue against:
Some False Assumptions About Women In Finance:
1) We donât care about spending, we just shop, shop, shop!
2) Money is a manâs job. We do housework becuase it is easier and take care of the kids
3) Men rule the world
Since I took my first programming and business 101 class in MS, I was the only girl out of 20 other guys.
Spoiler Alert: Nothing has changed.
Now, Iâm not here to debate, but I do want to raise this issue that we always feel like imposters.
The Real Reasons Why Women Are Best To Dominate The Financial Field:
1) Women live longer
2) We handle money smarter and better long term-countless studies just search it up
3) They are more risk-averse
4) 80% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are men because they inherit the position, wealth, status or have close connections already at the top-unfair advantage
5) Women are better decision-makers and handle stress better-once again, countless studies
6) Women don’t stand up for each other and make everything a competition
Now the last one I have to admit is certainly true and maybe the reason why I have more guy friends than girlfriends because guys simply let things go and arenât that emotionally troubled.
Girls, we need to let loose and not take everything so seriously!
Now that might not be the leading reason why we arenât at the top and donât get the same privileges with the same amount of expertise, but it certainly is slowing us down!
Last year, when I stepped into a classroom for my first class of 2nd semester freshman year, I casually found a seat and sat down.
When I went to twist my backpack around my back to open it in front of my chest, all of a sudden my water bottle cap from the side holder was open and spilled all over two people behind me as I tried to strangle it out of the mesh.
It spilled on 2 people.
1 boy, 1 girl.
1 was calm, didnât worry about it, and went on with their day laughing at how much nonsense I made and telling me to forget about it!
The other 1 declared they would never speak to me, like me, implied they would give me a death stare for the rest of my existence on campus (it is true) and never look at me again.
This is something I encounter a lot.
Not a stereotype just common and interestingly related to why women don’t get into the finance field.
You guessed it, the boy was the non-over-analyzer.
Sometimes I wish I could adopt that mindset and persona.
My thoughts overpower my mind and I end up making horrible decisions, fewer friends, and poorer judgments this way and it doesn’t help anyone!
So when it comes to running a company or a country, this is a great trait to have.
You donât:
1) Overexaggerate everything
2) Donât boast or think about yourself so much = what confident people actually do
3) Empathetic and put yourself in other’s shoes
4) Brush things off because you have other more important things to worry about
This may or may not be the reason why men have been dominating the financial, tech, law, aerospace, medical, and practically all fields that require education.
Despite there being more women than men in this world, it comes down to how our country used to act dating back to centuries ago.
Women were housewives, households only relied on 1 income– the husbandâs (that is a horrible decision if something were to happen to him), kids to take care of, and finances only ruled by men.
But this is 2020 and there is absolutely no reason why this has to continue.
Thankfully weâve made progress as a country, let alone the world.
There were more women lead businesses founded this year than in any other year, passive income is becoming a norm, grandma and grandpa are stepping in as free grandparents and WFH is popular which can actually be a problem with dividing work and family time, but you get the point.
Recently, I read a statistic that countries that have women leaders, had the lowest COVID infections and death rates.
Women are practical and realistic.
To be devil’s advocate, aren’t men?
Is there a way to differentiate the skills that possess them to stay at the top besides controlling emotions and tension as we discussed earlier?
Do we women like fights, gossip, and tension?
I may be asking these questions in 20-30 years from now and we still may not have an answer.
Is it because companies donât want to take a risk if a female has a baby and runs a company at the same time?
We just saw new Zealandâs newly elected prime minister give birth in office and they are the leading country with the least amount of COVID cases, death rates, and suicide rates.
So when it comes to our finances, what is so tricky?
There are usually two 2 sides to getting into finance:
1) You want to get into it because:
A) You love money
B) Follow your parents
C) Genuinely and curiously interested (I hope everyone is like this becuase the enthusiasm will actually last this way)
2)Â You don’t want to get into it becuase:
A) Bad press and below-average East Coast or West Coast living pay
B) Long way up
C) Boring
D) Too long hours
Why is there such a stark contrast?
Similarly to the tech field, it gets a bad rap!
Becuase you love computer science don’t mean you will turn into a hoodie, cubicle only engineer eating Cheetos and making puns about dorky Pokemon all day.
Plus, what is wrong with that if you do turn out that way?
Most CS majors and engineers/ PM are not like that anyway.
But if you do become one of them, they are great people, have solutions to problems, contribute immensely in their own unique way, and are calm, collected not emotionally prone!
Learning to code will be more necessary as our world innovates and we must explore its possibilities.
Unless you are forced to do anything or have a good reason to gain a reward from it, it doesn’t feel necessary.
Why donât we change that!
Think about it.
Instead of wasting your money, start growing it by educating yourself.
Invest in yourself by watching free YouTube, Khan Academy, Coursera, EdX, you name it, about coding 101 and personal finance.
No excuses and then no regrets will ever come out of doing so.
Your financial and mental/physical health are the only things you need in life.
If you donât know them soon than later, they will come to haunt you.
With more money, there isnât more happiness.
Instead, you have more freedom, comfort, stability, and safety.
This is what you should strive for but it should never be your first resort when finding what you enjoy.
It comes naturally after doing something well.
With little commitment each day, you can see major results in achieving your financial goals for the future.
Donât let yourself down.
You have to live with yourself for the rest of your life so determine what is most important.
Think ahead, donât overreact, and females, be a part of this field that you will need to learn about to upkeep your own life!
Because you study ecology or neuroscience is no excuse for not learning finance.
If you like, spend, or have money, you need to know it.
Letâs not make this a big deal and overexaggerate.
Everyone is trying their best and this is not a competition.
Leave emotions aside and letâs evaluate whatâs most important in our life.
Maybe that’s what we can learn from our male counterparts.
They arenât all bad!
We just need to prove to ourselves that we have to all be in this together, no catfights, just empowerment, trust, grit, and resistance.