I read a brilliant article in Stylist magazine this week about the lies women have been told in the name of empowerment.

From having it all, to embracing ladette culture or working our socks off to climb the career ladder only to descend several rungs after motherhood, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s all been a massive con.

Can you imagine what younger generations must think when we tell them what we’ve endured and some of the challenges that persist to this day? They’d be horrified. And with good reason.

Yet it’s not all bad news.

So in celebration of IWD, I thought we could shine a spotlight on some of the highlights when it comes to women’s finances for a change. And why there’s plenty of reason to feel optimistic about the future…

1. The “great wealth transfer” – if you missed it, millennials and their successors, are due to be on the receiving end of the most significant transfer of wealth in modern history to the tune of trillions of dollars, (in the US it’s estimated at $84trn and in the UK £5.5trn) passed down by their baby boomer parents and grandparents.

   For women it’s even better news – by 2025, 60% of the UK’s wealth is expected to transfer into our hands – with women’s extended life expectancy said to be one of the biggest drivers for this. 

2. Recognition that there is a problem – if you’re me then you’re totally fed up of repeating the same messages about the innumerable financial inequalities women face and how this compromises our quality of life. And if you’re not me you may be totally fed up of hearing about it! But perhaps this message fatigue masks a more positive reality – the more we talk, the more these issues remain on the agenda and the greater the probability we’ll push through change. Whether it comes in the form of childcare policy reform, improved workplace practices, more favourable workplace pension contributions or whatever,  by combining our collective voices and amplifying them where it matters, much needed change can and will come – there’s already been some evidence of this. It just needs speeding up!

3. The men who recognise we’re not donkeys and are committed to being part of the solution not the problem. Whether you call it allyship or simply just belief in the basic goodness of men (I choose the latter), most of us will have examples of the men in our lives who inspire, uplift and spur us on. The men who are committed to our success and want to see us win. Men who would dismiss even the merest hint of leaving all domestic duties to you as unconscionable. Let’s focus on them. And leave the rest in our dust (literally in some cases – who has time to polish??) as we thrive in spite of them.

Despite, these things, we still have some work to do.

1. Let’s start with self investment – as women let’s invest in ourselves by taking control of our financial futures, starting with a clear financial roadmap of where we want to get to and how to get there. I heard someone say once: “you can’t give away responsibility, you can only give away control” – let’s reclaim our economic power starting by controlling what we’re able to control.

   In short, when you pray for rain, make sure you have your umbrella poised and ready to go. We’re Rainmakers. Brollies up!

2. If I could wave a magic wand and solve a single financial challenge, it would be pensions in a heartbeat. Because in the necessary activism around our pay or access to affordable child care, the outcome of both these things is inadequate disposable income to even think about planning for the future. How could you when your very existence day to day feels so financially strained? In my view, it is the most significant long term financial problem for women globally. *Especially* as we live longer and *especially* as so many of us will find that we’re living out our later years alone. Whether you’re a mother or not, we will all need to retire comfortably, so if you want to bet on yourself in your next pay increase, you can’t really go wrong by starting here.

3. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – it would be impossible to overstate the role financial education plays not just in helping us make smarter financial decisions but in our confidence levels as we do so, in this and so many other aspects of our lives. And of course this applies to boys as well as girls. We shouldn’t wait until we’re adults to start learning how to manage our money. Let’s start with the young people in our lives now. Double down on your efforts to close the confidence gap that studies reveal opens up between boys and girls from just 8 years old by specifically tackling young women’s financial literacy levels early. My book Cash is Queen is a great place to start 😉

Happy International Women’s Day to you all!