Recently, I came across an article in one of the Gujarati newspapers that talked about the help and free advice provided by a CA in Pune. Generally, people do not like free advice but the advice provided by this person has helped survive around 500 hundred families who lost their bread-earner due to Covid or any other illness or accidents.
For a better understanding, I will summarize the content of the article. A woman called this CA from Pune, Rishabh Parekh, seeking his help to make her understand how to manage the finances post her husband’s sudden death due to coronavirus. This incident inspired this gentleman to lend free service to people who are ill-educated in matters of finances, be it claiming insurance, rights as a nominee, managing investments, loans, etc. He and his team of 30 members started ‘Mission Care’ for the same through which until now they have provided free services to around 500 hundred families around the globe. The article also included mobile numbers of ‘Mission Care’ so that anybody can reach out to them for assistance. (I Watsapped them appreciating their efforts and they responded – ‘We are doing our bit’. God bless them.)
This article created ripples of thoughts in my untiring mind. Though it didn’t explicitly say that the people who sought their help were only women, the pivotal discussion of this blog is on the financial literacy of women in India. This article made me mull over my limited understanding of finances as well. It made me ponder – how many of us are aware of the financial matters of our family, especially women in the family? How many of us are aware of our financial responsibilities as well?
From her very childhood, a woman is conditioned to believe that she is the caretaker of the family and a man is the provider of the family. And such conditioning holds true across different communities. A daughter, sister, mother and wife are most of the time (mind you, not always) unaware of any sort of investments, loans, different bank accounts, different policies and significant documents of the family.
I do not completely blame women for this ill-education. No. Not at all. It is the man who does not consider her eligible enough to know about varied aspects of finances. Maybe, many – not all – of the husbands do not even consider their better half intelligent enough to have such knowledge. For example, a Gujarati husband will always have a one-liner response for his wife whenever she would show some interest in the financial matters – ‘You won’t understand. Leave it.’ (I am a Gujarati, so I thought giving an example from my culture would be rather safe :))
Here, I do not have any ill intentions on taking a dig simply on husbands. It is the entire male clan who believes that their mother, sister, daughter and wife will not understand financial management. So, they don’t even try to educate them in such matters. No such conversations are held at the dining table or during family time. It is just the men who have internal discussions and decisions are made. As part of an obligation, they just inform women in the family about their decisions.
If men do not consider women brainy enough to comprehend finances, even women are responsible for their ignorance. Most of us do not want to make attempts to learn anything about finances. We either find it disinteresting or un-womanly. We have more excuses to not engage in such matters than reasons to seek knowledge about the same. If I give you my own example, I always had an excuse – ‘I don’t understand the Math’.
God forbid if something uneventful happens with the man in the family tomorrow, how will you (the woman) manage the house? Do you know anything about your husband’s insurance policy or investments? Do you know in which bank/s your husband or father or brother or son has saved his hard-earned money?
Covid has taught us many things in life. It has not only helped us to understand the value of relationships but it has also made it clear that our lives are extremely unpredictable and uncertain. Hopefully, now it should also teach and encourage men to teach women something about finances, like paying bills, how to claim as a nominee, banking, and so on and so forth. If men are unwilling to reveal all the information about their investments and business, at least they can encourage women in their family to start investing money. Small investment is also a good investment.
Here’s a pie-chart that highlights the facts about the financial choices of women in 8 Indian cities.
Source: DSP Winvestor Pulse 2019, DSP MF. 4013 respondents, 2160 women, 1853 men. Across 8 Indian cities
The percentage of financial literacy or financial management is still less in our country. However, if every husband will teach his wife, if every father will educate his daughter, if every son will discuss the financial matters with his mother, and if every brother will aid his sister, we will not require the ‘CARE’ of someone outside the family. Let the ‘MISSION’ begin at home by the men of the family.
Take this quiz to know where you stand in your understanding of financial management.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclJ99zKxRe7aiDvusjsVI-cJ59s4lXqIRMYGCdEDDQnwov7A/viewform
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Nikita Jhaveri