Do Women Feel Additional Pressure to Be “Good With Money?”
If there’s one thing I know from interviewing dozens of people about how they do money, it’s that a lot of us feel ashamed or embarrassed about at least one part of our finances. It’s that one thing we know we could be doing better — or should be doing better — and because we don’t have a perfect financial life, we wonder if we’re bad with money.
At Shondaland, Meredith Fineman takes a look at how this impulse to apologize for our finances affects women:
One of the biggest issues plaguing women when it comes to money is not discussing what we’re making (and our male counterparts not telling us what they are making), what we want to make, and finances in general, because women are conditioned not to talk about money at all. So if the money troubles you encounter — whether it’s student loans, credit card debt, or even a really expensive dental visit — don’t fit into your narrative of how you view yourself, particularly with your “good” past, it can feel all the more frustrating.
Add in the stereotype that women are naturally bad with money — which, um, how did that happen — and you get a generation of women who feel pressured to prove that they’re doing everything right, financially.
Even though, as Fineman notes, the system is rigged against them.
Do you feel pressure — regardless of gender — to prove that you’ve got your financial act together? Do you feel like that pressure is compounded by gender expectations? Maybe it’s time to do another “Share Your Failures” thread in the comments, so we know that it’s okay to not be perfect all the time — and that a few failures here and there doesn’t mean that we’re bad with money.
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