The Differences Between How Parents and Society Teach Boys and Girls Financial Awareness
With a divorce rate of around 50% and many people not marrying until
they are in their thirties, it is surprising to find that there are
still many women who aren’t financially educated. Most of this can be
traced back to two factors: upbringing at home and society. In both
cases, boys have often been given much more training and many more
resources than girls have and the effects are damaging women financially
today as they face a world in which they have to take care of monetary
issues on their own but have never developed the skills to do so.
The Safe, Secure 1950’s
In the 1950’s most women quickly married and settled down to raise
families. Very few of them worked outside the home, and finances were
handled by the men. It was a financially prosperous time and women were
expected to focus on the home and child-rearing. This focus on
home-making was passed on to daughters while sons were groomed to the
“breadwinners” of the family.
The obvious separation between girls and boys activities also managed to
keep girls “sheltered” from financial concerns. They weren’t expected to
pay for anything on a date and parents didn’t often expect them to hold
down jobs. Boys, on the other hand, were expected to get a job at a
young age, even if it was merely a paper route. The expectation was that
a young man needed to “take on some responsibility” and “contribute.”
As the generation raised in the 1950’s grew up and raised families of
their own, they passed on the financial biases that had been instilled
in them to their own children. Many of today’s parents have made the
same mistakes their own mothers and fathers did, ignoring the obvious
need for women to understand and learn to handle their own finances in
favor of hoping that their daughters wouldn’t have to face the harsh
financial facts of life.