Dawn Thomas, Senior Financial Adviser at Wealthwise
"International Women’s Day (IWD) 2020’s theme is #EachforEqual. We are being asked this IWD to take individual action to drive gender equality. My money story is about the origins of owning my power before being able to confidently chase the financial opportunities that I felt worthy for.
Value is not merely financial. Money is a means to provide wider choices, however it is your sense of self-worth which directs you to the choices you make. My parents gifted to me the notion of owning my worth. My mother wanted me to ‘earn your own money’ and earn it in a way that gave me purpose. My father only asked one thing of me: to own my value as a person.
My family is from Singapore and Malaysia, with origins from India. Singapore, where I grew up, is a country of immigrants. Citizens trust that meritocracy will govern decisions around opportunity. Promised that if they were diligent, they would succeed regardless of race, gender or religion. Society’s view on your worth as a person appear to directly correlate to how much money you have. People wear their worth proudly in their occupation titles, bags, clothes, homes and cars.
The value of a woman, especially a melanin blessed woman in Asian culture, sits low on the ladder. By knowing our place, we serve and diminish our achievements. By accepting our place, we let people tell us how we can use our bodies and voluntarily dim our light.
My mother’s story was turning out like her mother’s and it would be destined to become mine as it would my daughter’s. To know our place and accept that we are worth less.
My mother’s first #EachforEqual action, was being financially independent. This financed her freedom and bought her more options. Another #EachforEqual action was choosing a man who would see her as an equal. A man who was worth more than money itself. A man not intimidated by her light and chose her because of the value he saw in her as a person.
This decision meant I had access to a father who reiterated daily how much value I had to the world. His #EachforEqual action was cherishing me. When the world provided many opportunities for me to doubt the power I have within me, his love is what guided me to acquire what I knew I deserved.
I see money as the symptom of a problem and part of a solution. We tangibly undervalue women in Australia demonstrated by the pay gap, unpaid caring duties and the gap in average superannuation balances. Financial abuse keeps women in situations that no one deserves to be in.
Our #EachforEqual action could be to change the way we place value on ourselves. It is to reassure our daughters that they have significance, igniting their passion to change the world and teaching them the invaluable life skill of being financially independent. It is expressing what support we require to be successful at our job and at home. It is asking to be paid our worth. It is to choose unity over division and lift the outcomes of all the women around us. #EachforEqual"