In our culture there is a common belief that the man of the house earns whereas the woman of the house only knows how to spend it. Even when a woman works to sustain her family, give financial support to her spouse (with insufficient income) or to meet the rising inflation, I have heard the male colleagues say that she is earning just to meet her personal expenses or to maintain a lavish lifestyle.
Seldom women are given the credit of being equal financial partners to meet the standard living costs of a household or astute investors or wealth generators. Mostly they are considered financially non savvy because of their cautious and conservative approach towards investment (preferring assured returns) and high risk aversion.
However, history speaks otherwise.
There were women lenders, treasurers and estate managers across centuries and around the world. Chola and Vijayanagara temple inscriptions from South India show that women managed endowments and lent jewels. “In Tamil Nadu, Chettiar wives and mothers ran the domestic ledgers of sophisticated private banking networks while the menfolk were abroad. In Varanasi and Bengal widows lent to landlords and traders.”
Bullions and jewellery, a woman’s primary assets, have traditionally functioned as household venture capital to start or to sustain business and even sold during hardships. During India’s freedom struggle, jewellery donated by women facilitated the movements.
Women’s savings, though at rates comparable to men, are prioritised around security and liquidity. They’d rather depend on savings accounts, fixed deposits, Post Office schemes and insurance linked products than on high risk high yield equity, businesses and real estates.
Women default less. They manage the liquidity assets of the household (cash, fixed deposits, insurance, gold) while men invest in growth assets like equity, property and business capital. Even in case of modern entrepreneurship, the founders have been able to pursue high-risk high-reward ventures because often the wife has continued to provide financial backing to the household through their stable income. Research also finds that while men trade more frequently or aggressively women prefer instruments of long term growth and are less likely to panic-sell during a market crash.
Modern financial products are designed on the assumptions of continuous employment, uninterrupted career arc and predictable growth in terms of earnings, assets and net worth. However, women’s economics lives can be discontinuous with career breaks for caregiving and phases of part-time work thereby resulting in income volatility. Hence, the gender disparity in financial behaviour – men are likely to show over confidence whereas women are likely to prefer sound saving with narrower margins for error.
(Source: Sunday Hindustan Times Wknd/Lifestyle dated 11.01 2026)
Didn’t demonetization show all the savings the home maker had saved in her kitchen! My mom aunt and my neighbor aunties had a minimum of 25000 rupees safely tucked away without the knowledge of their
better half!
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Just imagine! Still they say women do not understand finance!!
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Men giving excuses!
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Much of this seems to be universal to me
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Yes it is a global trend. Thank you so much Derrick
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Oh yes, my friend. All true. And if anything, women are more levelheaded.
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Absolutely. They have more financial acumen and soundness than their counterparts in certain cases.
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And more mental strength too.
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Agreed 💯
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👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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Nice reflection. A woman helps her family in so many ways but she seldom gets full credit.
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That’s it Rupali. Women are taken for granted at least those of our times.
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So apparently men are the fearless wealth creators and women just guard the treasure chest.
History seems to be silently laughing in the background.
Maybe it is less about who earns or who risks more, and more about who makes sure the roof does not fly off when the market sneezes.
GC, One builds castles, the other checks the foundation.
Both think they are the sensible one. Perhaps that is the real picture. 😄
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Love your interpretative response adding depth to the post.
Perhaps you may say sensibility guiding (w)recklessness ???
😃😃😃😃
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Maybe not (w)recklessness, just boldness that sometimes runs ahead of itself.
Sensibility keeps a steady hand on the wheel while ambition enjoys the open road. 😄😄
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Very thoughtful post, Geetashree Ma’am! I totally agree that we need to value and appreciate the feminine approach towards money and other areas of life and culture in general. Unfortunately, society tends to privilege the masculinist notions of over-confidence and aggression as you rightly noted.
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I feel it is about time that women were equal to men but that is not so! It saddens me, that men can earn a lot more than women, and two people, a man and a woman who are doing the same job, the man always earns more
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I agree with you Carol Anne. Equality of treatment is a must.
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Nice one indeed. Financial literacy and economic empowerment are extremely important for women because they create greater independence, confidence, and long-term financial stability.
I especially like the focus on budgeting, career growth, and building wealth through better financial decisions.
More conversations like this can encourage women to take stronger control of saving, investing, and long-term financial planning. Please you can explore more about personal finance on our website windetop,com
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Thank you
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This beautifully challenges the stereotype that women are only spenders, not wealth creators. History and modern research both show that women have long been careful financial planners, stabilizers, and resilient investors whose contributions often go unrecognized. stocksifting.com
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This beautifully challenges the stereotype that women are only spenders, not wealth creators. History and modern research both show that women have long been careful financial planners, stabilizers, and resilient investors whose contributions often go unrecognized.
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