New research indicates that young girls are more stressed about money than their male peers in the wake of the cost of living crisis.
Gen Z women are more likely to have no personal savings, be more likely to use buy-now-pay-late services, and be less likely to look for ways to grow their wealth, according to research (57%, compared to 41% of men).
It’s a troubling cast of statistics, made worse by the gender pay gap and the pension space.
Amanda Rose, CEO of Entrepreneurial and Small Business Women Australia, is launching a new class age-appropriate plan to issue outdated social media prejudices about women and finances and give them the tools they need to achieve financial freedom.
The Future Not Followers regional financial literacy program, developed with funding from the NSW Government and based on a pilot program run by the NSW Council for Women’s Economic Opportunity (CWEO), is being offered to 200 high school girls over a four-week period.
Rose laments that “a lot of social media is making it seem very simple to make money, to do very little, and to make money.”
“So it’s not just younger ladies, this happens for girls as well, in the small business industry,” which is simply not true.
The course includes hands-on assistance from a portfolio of highly qualified and realistic speakers and incorporates as much practical experience as possible to help women apply their knowledge in real-world conditions.
“We hear from career people and business owners, I do some tutoring, and I have an influence who has a component in the system, talking about how she made money from it and how challenging it was,” Rose says.
“We try to be very practical, because the whole idea is to give them that reality check of “what is it that you want and how do you go about getting it?” and what is required, as well as how wealth is related to that.
According to Entrepreneurial and Small Business Women Australia CEO Amanda Rose,” There’s an immediate need to tell girls financial education so they are empowered to obtain financial freedom rather than sacrifice to the lady maths myth.”
All of these statements are fundamentally lies or traps that people are using to destroy their futures, such as “oh, you just move into your boss’s office and demand money, you’ll find a pay rise,” or “you just have to say no to that and you’ll be good” or “you just have to get a following you’ll create money.”
A pilot at Our Lady of Mercy in Parramatta, where a group of girls offered to do a first draft of the program and give feedback on what they liked, what they didn’t like, and what they’d like more of, was a crucial component of preparing and tailoring the program.
“They wanted the entire software online, and for us to help it with in-person task for those who choose to do it that way,” Rose says.
According to Rose, the ladies wanted to be able to participate at their own pace when it was easy, and they also desired worksheets, more interviews, comments, and components from different women from all walks of life.
“So we did that, and therefore we connected the system to the New South Wales Curriculum and National Curriculum, which we have created specifically for teachers.”
“The whole concept is not to recreate it, but to offer a real-world connection to what they’re starting to learn at school,” he said.
Rose asserts that students are rarely given real-world examples of good financial administration until they are placed in a primary environment.
“But at university or TAFE, you get people from the real world to tell you, and they might take in someone who is popular or effective, and let them speak to you about the realities of how they got it.”
The Future No Followers system is only currently available in six regional New South Wales schools.
“At the moment, we have funding from the government to do this for the local schools for free, but if there is no additional funding, we need to make sure that there is a very cheap option for them,” Rose says.
For the kids, having solid information that will help them as they advance in their careers and work lives can only be useful.
Rose concludes that it’s just “kind of making money and setting goals,” which is both fascinating and doable.
“If they have a program of some kind, they have something to work on and work toward.”