MONEY IN INDIAN SOCIETY
Money is a very important aspect of the life of any individual, but hardly does anyone teach us about it. Ideally, the importance of money and ways of managing it should be taught in school irrespective of gender, but our schooling system fails to do so. As a result, no to little knowledge of financial literacy bars the Indian masses from making informed decisions when it comes to handling money.
FINANCE AND WOMEN
In patriarchal Indian society, men are expected to be the breadwinners in the family and they are also designated as the head of the family. By default, men have to become financially independent to take over the roles and responsibility and these in turn gives the decision-making power in the hands of men. Women on the other hand are expected to stay at home, sacrifice their careers, and take over the roles of cooking, cleaning, embracing motherhood, raising children, taking care of the elderly, etc., and as a result of this women end up doing unpaid labor and hence financially depending on their male partners for their day to day basic needs and also for their long term financial planning and security. Since women become financially dependent on men, they also lose the decision-making power in matters of household budgeting and financial planning as well. Especially in the Indian context, women also face multiple issues like, lack of access to land, capital, resources, and technological knowledge and gender-based violence and discrimination.
EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL DEPENDENCY AND EXPLOITATION
Due to economic dependence, women remain excluded from the formal financial system. Hence women have to store their money, mainly small savings, in cash and depend mostly on their close connections or private money lenders, who charge huge interest rates, to meet their financial needs that may arise unexpectedly. This makes women vulnerable to loss, theft, and exploitation which can range from trafficking, prostitution, rape, and sexual harassment.
Financial dependency creates further issues in personal life for instance, a basic need of every woman is her sanitary hygiene kit which is essential for women's sexual, physical, and mental health, but the availability of this to the women depends on the approval of the male partner (since money is managed by him). Another example could be that whenever any financial crisis occurs in a family woman is expected naturally by her family to sacrifice her needs not only that when it comes to cutting down expenses in any crisis, especially when the budget is running tight, the first expense that is reduced is the one relating to women’s need. The expenses on alcohol and cigarettes hardly reduced however tight the budget might be. These are only a few examples of the issues and discriminations faced by women for being dependent on men financially.
EDUCATION CAREER
In the Indian context, it is mostly true that women are educated to get a better groom perspective and for career building. In modern-day India women in our Indian society have understood the importance of education and building a career out of it. Even with this realization, there is very little knowledge of financial literacy ( knowledge of how to make smart decisions with money) and personal finance( managing one’s income as per their financial situation and creating a budget to spend and save money).
FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Financial Independence is important for every individual irrespective of their gender. However, achieving financial independence is crucial for women in this gender-biased society for women’s long-term financial stability and security. women can achieve financial independence by pursuing higher education, starting their own businesses, fetching high-paying jobs, and investing in their future. Being financially independent will give women decision-making power, which will ensure their needs are met and their rights are preserved.
Generally, women live longer than men but have shorter work tenures( most women give up on their careers to take care of their families - giving them fewer years to fund any retirement plan), and lower earnings due to the gender pay gap. All these above factors give modern-day women all the more reason to be financially independent and have a basic knowledge about managing their personal finances to have financial stability and security.