It’s interesting to point out that women’s relationship with their money and looking at history, does differ from men’s.
As we head into the new year and looking at our goal setting it maybe a good time to think about our relationship with money. As we know we are looking at all areas of our lives and finance is up the top.
Ok so as women some of us would rather strip off and run naked than show our bank accounts in public!
So, I thought I would start by taking a brief look at the history of money and women.
How did we get to where we are now?
Women’s Rights, Money Property History.
It’s interesting to go back in time to see how beliefs around women’s relationship with money has evolved. The history and where women were placed and how far we have come.
Our mindset as women is yet to come along way though.
Interestingly, ancient Egyptian women held equal monetary and inheritance rights with men. It wasn’t until 1870 that the UK passed the Married Women’s Property Act.
This which finally gives women the right to own property that didn’t immediately pass to their spouses on marriage. UK women finally gained equal inheritance rights in 1922.
However married women still couldn’t open their own bank account!
The French were the first to allow this in 1881 but it took the UK until 1975!
If you think this is just the UK, the stats for the US and other western style economies look pretty similar.
So from this quick research what becomes really clear is that the history of money and our relationship with it is very limited.
Women’s Relationship with Money, Our History and Beliefs.
Our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers has been one where the trust given to women to earn, spend and invest money.
Women’s wages were often referred to as ‘pin money’, and there was an expectation that her earnings would be low.
Women’s spending would be limited to household requirements.
Things are changing of course, although any optimism here is tempered by these rather sobering statistics.
In April 2017, the gender pay gap for median earnings for full-time employees in the UK was still 9.1%, in favour of men.
It seems we are still likely to tell people we earn less than our male partner even when we don’t.
A recent NY Times article showed that where a women earnt more than her partner she was likely to downplay her earnings by 1.9%. Her partner would upscale his by 2.9% because it felt more socially acceptable!
After reviewing the history, I thought I would begin an exploration of my own relationship with money, to try and understand my own history.
https://treesisters.org/blog/women-s-relationship-with-money
Here are some questions to ask yourself about women;s relationship with money… asked:
What is my relationship with money?
Money is a complicated topic. Most of us tend to feel uncomfortable talking about it and might even prefer to reveal aspects of our sex lives than to divulge our income.
Even if we spend countless hours thinking of ways to make more money, we may not give much thought to how we relate to money. But when you pay attention to your relationship with money, you can gain some important insights into yourself.
Can money ever be sacred?
Money become associated with control, scarcity, separation, competition and the ‘this is mine’ and ‘that is yours’ hierarchy.
The polarity of the ‘haves’ & the ‘have-nots’ created a global story of slavery to the dollar and furthered our story of separation and fear.
In addition, the commodities that we buy with this altered story of money often are no longer sacred commodities. But rather are disposable cheap products, that have little intrinsic value or meaning to us.
These cheap products are made by taking from the Earth with little or no regard to what must be gifted back to Earth in return for what she has humbly gifted us.
Our Sacred dance with Earth has been lost as governments and corporations are only invested in monetary wealth creation and shareholder return.
To return our lives to Sacred Wealth once again will take a giant leap in consciousness.
A complete revolution in the way we view the economics of world through all our systems.
Education, Environmental, Medicine, Agriculture, Financial, Legal, Government, Religion, Media to name but a few.
Am I worthy of more money?
Money beliefs are a specific type of beliefs. They influence the way we view money and our ability, as well as worthiness and whether we deserve to make money.
Money beliefs work on the same principle as all beliefs, that is, the pattern-match principal.
If you have positive beliefs about what is possible for you, they can empower you.
Positive money beliefs can put you on the path to a life of abundance and financial success, helping you to make more money.
By contrast, negative money beliefs hold you back from achieving your true potential.
Making the money you deeply desire and need to enjoy your life fully and have money to give to causes you care about.
If you genuinely believe that you can make more money, for example if you believe that you can make $100,000 a month,. You will seize every opportunity that you belief can get you there.
Because you perceive the possibility to be real you feel comfortable and confident taking action.
Philippa Hunt is a Woman on a Mission.
WiseGirls Money Academy was created after working as a qualified Financial Adviser for many years and deciding it was time to assist women who desired to learn and develop the self-empowerment to understand their emotional relationship with money, the skills and knowledge to save and invest. They wanted to learn how to create their own financial future and become financially capable.
The WiseGirls Money Mission is to provide the opportunity and place for growth and development of women of all ages in personal and financial skills in a supported female environment so that they take control of their future to reach their own financial independence.
