|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Summary
It is not a stereotype that women are poorer than men. While many might argue that it's a natural consequence of things, studies have shown that unpaid labour, motherhood, stress, and the financial trap of marriage are major contributors to women’s low economic growth. In this article, Anita examines these factors, highlighting why women must go beyond societal expectations to thrive in the economy.
Are women truly poorer than men? 100% yes. Not just temporarily broke, but poorer over their entire lifetime; Lower savings, Lower investments, Lower pensions. Lower assets. And unless something very uncomfortable changes in how society is structured, this gap will remain.
Why is this the case?
First, most women spend most of their money on taking care of everybody. Multiple global studies show that women reinvest around 90 per cent of their income back into their families. This means food, school fees, hospital bills, rent, and emergency “please help me” messages. Men, on the other hand, keep a much larger share of their income for personal use, investment, big projects, or enjoyment. I know you are dying to argue that this is not true. But stay with me.
If one group is always spending on survival and everyone else, while the other group is spending to build, save, risk, invest, and grow, who do you think will end up richer over time? Women are nurturers. But why is no one acknowledging the financial cost of nurturing? No one gives awards for being the backbone, and yet, your bank account just gets weaker. As if that is not enough, let’s talk about the biggest scam nobody talks about: unpaid labour.
Women globally do about three-quarters of the unpaid work in the world, including cooking, cleaning, childcare, elder care, emotional labour, and serving as the family’s shock absorber. If stress had a sponge, it would be shaped like a woman. Women have gotten to the point where we confuse suffering with virtue. A woman who rests is often perceived as lazy. A woman who pours into herself is called selfish. A woman who prioritises money is called greedy. A woman who says “I’m tired” is told that her mother suffered more.
If unpaid labour could be converted into money, many women would be billionaires. But because it is labelled “love” instead of “labour,” it is invisible. And invisible labour pays for nothing. You cannot invest in or grow it.
Women are busy maintaining life, while men are busy building wealth.
I need to warn you at this point to brace yourself for impact because I am about to go where you might request for my head. I am talking about motherhood. For most women, motherhood is a financial sentence, not a fairytale.
Research shows what many women already know spiritually. Once you become a mother, your career suffers, with fewer promotions, lower pay, fewer opportunities, and less flexibility to pursue your ambitions aggressively. Meanwhile, men with children are often seen as more responsible and stable. Women with children are seen as distracted. Same baby. Different punishments.
The world pays women back for motherhood with stress and financial disadvantage. There is no motherhood bonus, only a motherhood penalty. Now, before someone jumps up with righteous indignation to say “but motherhood is a choice,” let me also mention that society pressures women into motherhood and then punishes them for choosing it. This is called a setup. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
There is a lie that women are not ambitious. Fortunately, some data contradict this. Women are as ambitious as men, sometimes even more ambitious. The difference is not desire. The difference is the environment. When ambition meets unpaid labour, social pressure, gender bias, sexual harassment, and emotional exhaustion, ambition gets tired. Most women’s dreams are crowded by responsibility and pressure.
A person who works late is often considered focused. A woman who works late is called negligent. A man who postpones marriage for wealth is “building himself.” A woman who does the same is “making a mistake.”
Everyone loves successful women until they start succeeding in ways that make men uncomfortable. Ambition in women is acceptable only if it does not threaten men.
Will women ever win?
Have you ever been in a room where a woman proudly announces that she doesn’t want marriage or children? You can cut through the tension with a knife. And if you are not experienced, you would think it is a genuine concern. But I know better. The rage when women say they don’t want marriage or children is not a holy concern. It is control.
The moment a woman openly chooses freedom, people lose their minds. Her womb suddenly becomes public property. Aunties become prophets. Uncles become economists. Pastors become fertility specialists. Even roadside nonentities suddenly have a say. “How will you be fulfilled? Who will inherit your things? Is it because you are making money? You are drunk on success”
Meanwhile, men delay marriage for ten years to “find themselves,” and society claps. However, a woman wanting the same financial breathing room is perceived as offensive. You see, the system depends heavily on women’s unpaid labour, emotional labour, and reproductive labour. When women opt out, the system starts shaking. When women choose differently, the economy feels it, and society reacts with anger. It is not about morality. It is about convenience. Women glue society together. And society hates when the glue walks away.
So why are women poorer than men, and why won’t this change easily?
Because money loves freedom, and women are the least free beings on earth. Women are emotionally burdened. Women are culturally bound. Women are biologically taxed. Women are morally policed. Women are financially drained. And then society wonders why men have more generational wealth.
You cannot expect equality from a system that runs on imbalance. You cannot expect wealth from a life of constant giving. You cannot expect abundance from a structure designed for sacrifice. It is not because women are lazy, or unserious, or that we lack ambition. However, the world has created a system that thrives on female exhaustion.
Nothing will change until: women’s labour in the household is respected, motherhood is economically supported, marriage is not a financial trap for women and women are not socially punished for not being married. And the gap will continue to widen. If you want wealth, you must understand power. If you want freedom, you must see the system clearly. If you want to win, you must stop pretending the game is fair. This is not pessimism. This is realism.
Editor’s note: This article was first published on Anita’substack page.
