March seems to herald everything that pertains to the fairer sex: beach, summer blossoms, and hotter-than-thou temperatures. Incidentally, it is the celebration of women’s month, where equal rights and opportunities go beyond bikinis and piña coladas.
But money and finances remain inside glass ceilings, still sacred cows even in the most liberated circles. Because if financial freedom leads to emancipation, how come we put such a critical detail at the back of our pretty heads?
Rude awakening: Simply put, women and money are not complementary.
It’s like that annoying notion about female drivers, where being fickle seems to extend to the steering wheel. As women blaze the trail and shatter glass ceilings in every imaginable territory, mutual respect on financial management continues to elude the sisterhood.
Truth is, gender issues inevitably extend to financial biases. From household planning to personal portfolios, women’s rights are hardly felt in the financial services. Worse, public opinion only regards a lady’s financial prowess between budgeting a grocery list and maxing out a slew of credit cards.
Not-so-rude awakening: Surprisingly, money knows no gender.
The great male-female divide may be a throwback to the days before suffrage and women-wearing-pants acceptance. And though studies reveal that women CEOs are way behind their male counterparts when it comes to compensation, these green-colored glass ceilings are well on its way of being shattered.
For if we can do a thousand different styles to our hair, we can surely be as creative in stretching the family budget and balancing the must-have and the need-to-have. After all, money is blind, except to the hard work one puts in.
So watch out for falling debris. The glass ceilings are breaking, and this is no time to run for cover.
