WOMEN & MONEY MATTERS

By Rabia Saad, Karachi, Pakistan

FOR A MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES, FINANCIAL CARE BY A MALE FIGURE COMES WITH A SENSE OF PRIVILEGE.

To further a perspective of female financial independence in Pakistan is apparently an uphill task. But then the question becomes, ‘why do we even need to have ‘a’ perspective in a complexly diverse society, where notions cannot just be cultural or social or religious, but also socio-religio-cultural all at one point in time.

Pakistani society is perceived to be dominated by an Islamic belief system, but obviously the socio-cultural interpretations of women empowerment in terms of financial autonomy are found exploitative in most cases because there is still no conversation around financial planning offered to working or stay-at-home women.

In this regard, I was able to talk to a diverse set of women in an attempt to explore how the women themselves may approach their relationship with money. Among them, some of the housewives apparently do not have much to complain about their husbands, but sometimes, they have felt left out when it comes to money. One of the respondents called it being ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘awkward’ asking the husband for money. While others elaborately opened up about the unnecessary humiliation and discriminatory attitude for being financial dependents of the men.

But there were still others who were highly content being the show-runners (read: independent decision makers) of their domestic life because they are handed over the entire income to run the family affairs. They only consult their husbands for necessary advice.

We can sense that in both sets of experiences there is a link of money with freedom. But, interestingly a third kind of opinion also exists. Another respondent Ms. Nasir, who along with her husband has been earning for most of her life to meet particular upbringing choices for her children, does not equate money with freedom. According to her, “Women’s earning may be referred to as freedom but it may equally not be freedom, because in the larger picture she is spending it on family priorities. It is more about meeting needs. And it may sometimes burden the women and may work against their biological framing.” Nasir feels that it would be much better if the burden of earning is carried out by the men while women can focus on nurturing the home with her presence.

Nasir’s opinions may sound to be harmonious to many, but when I put them in front of a female gender rights’ activist, she criticized it with a particular reasoning, “Unfortunately, we do not offer financial planning to our working women. They are paid less, having greater difficulty securing assets. Their growth trajectory is already restricted by family obligations and child bearing responsibilities. Their jobs are poorly incentivized with no pensions. We have made work a burden for women. The majority of the women are so tired in their professional lives, they never feel autonomous with their own money. They also do not feel happy with the financial impact they have on their family.”

When Ms. Nasir pointed out the biological imbalance and natural overlapping of duties for working women and mothers, she also endorsed the idea of skills training for the women who want to earn with personal willingness and choice. According to global reports on the financial agency of women, unfortunately in South Asian countries, women are told that smart phones, banks and financial services are too smart for them. From the context of risk management, financial alienation of women in homes results in increased dependency on a single person and if that male figure goes missing (in case of separation/death), women have to face serious repercussions of that dependency.

This financial alienation for women has been observed so much so that women are not even included in money discussions. It can be easily called a deprivation or violation of a human right. As another respondent who was approached for this article shared, “I am not very sure that it has been said in Islam that only men are financially responsible for women, I may not be qualified as my knowledge is incomplete regarding this, but of course I am not comfortable with this idea because it takes away a lot of my humanity with it. And Islam cannot take away anyone’s humanity. Then I see so many examples, where the Prophet's wife was financially independent. So I think that is not the idea which Islam gives.”

She further shares about her student life during which she felt financially supported and taken care of by her father but she always felt the need to equally share the responsibility which came with the specific demands of the professional degree of her choice. She further adds, “Because I was in art education, I also felt that I managed my finances in a way not to increase the burden. So instead of going for a full-fledged photography minor, I opted for print-making. Though both were my interests, print-making was financially less burdensome. I did photography but it was traditional and not digital, since for that I had to buy a digital camera which, at that time, I myself wouldn’t have been able to afford, and my father would have had to pay. After finishing my studies, I would say paying back would be a crude term. Rather, I began contributing back as soon as I started earning.”

We see that women can bring in a completely different perspective in money discussions, which men miss very often. And their perspective can be very useful. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. With a growing complex society, where men and women both are financial contributors, there is a need to move beyond gender in order to initiate suitable financial planning for all parties. After all, all women do not carry the privilege of a male presence or a male as a financial caretaker in their homes.

Photo by José Ignacio González Pansiera on Unsplash