03.02.2022 Josephin Hartmann 12692

How women can finally become financially independent

The topic of women's financial independence has really taken off in the last five years. Many women are now catching up on what they missed out on when it comes to finances. Why now?

Dani Parthum: It was only about 40 years ago that women were allowed to make their own decisions about money, sign their own employment contracts and have legal capacity. For a long time, German legislation kept women completely incapacitated when it came to money. But for the past 40 years, women have been building up a new self-confidence. They are increasingly earning their own money and can decide for themselves what to do with it.

But why this "hype" about finance now and not 20 years ago?

One driver of this development is digitalization. It has changed access to stock exchanges, financial knowledge is shared and we have access to a huge pool of knowledge. Around 10 to 15 years ago, we still had to call the bank if we wanted to trade a share.  

What are the three biggest weaknesses when it comes to the topic of "women and money"?

For some women, financial education and investing is still a men's issue. Unfortunately, many women are too often stuck in the belief that "money is not important", which in past generations was also due to the immaturity of legislation. They were taught from childhood to make themselves pretty, to serve their husbands and to be there for others.

Many people also think "I don't think I can do this" or "I've always been bad at math and therefore can't do finance". When it comes to finance, we only need the four basic arithmetic operations: plus, minus, multiplication and division. We don't need advanced math to understand finance.

Why will women still be earning less than men in 2022?

The stereotypical allocation of roles from the past still lingers in the minds of many HR managers: the man takes care of the family and the woman works for him.

These old stereotypical patterns are passed down through generations. Basically, we can only get rid of them if women and men recognize these patterns and if they are supported by legislation. The fact that many women are raising their children alone these days is not even recognized. They should actually be earning significantly more. In addition, pay for a job should not be dependent on family status and gender.

What can women do to achieve more fair pay compared to their male colleagues?

I would actually discuss this with my superiors and I would also try to make it tangible in the workforce. If my superiors don't care about the issue and injustices aren't investigated, then I would think about whether this is the company I want to work for. But it really only works through communication.

My advice in three steps:

First I should know what I do for the company.
Then I can form my own opinion of how I would like to be remunerated.
And then: communicate!

Is there anything you feel dependent on?

Yes, definitely. I feel emotionally dependent on my loved ones, my husband, my children and my friends. If something were to happen to them, a very big and important part of my life would be lost forever. That would take a lot out of me. But I don't see that as a negative dependency, it means life to me.

Otherwise, I feel dependent on our social environment. Especially now, in times of coronavirus, society is sometimes so aggressive and overbearing that it really bothers me. The lack of understanding for each other, the lack of listening and asking questions - these are negative dependencies for me. I also feel dependent when important developments such as equal rights and self-determination for women in all social and personal matters take so long.

Dani Parthum is a qualified economist, money coach for women and business journalist. Her credo: Women are in charge of their own finances! She helps women to lose their fear of money and develop a positive attitude towards money. She shares her knowledge on her financial blog for women: www.geldfrau.de.

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