MONEY MATTERS

Women empowerment in most developing countries is restricted to seeking equal opportunities for education, health care, employment and mostly the mundane, involving right to choose what to wear, where to go, and when to return, etc. In this milieu of the frivolous, significant matters relating to financial empowerment are consigned to the backyard of priorities. This is done or achieved on at least two major counts; firstly, it is the male domination of the society that works deliberately, intentionally and invariably with malafide motives, to keep the womenfolk ignorant about their economic and financial rights; and secondly, culturally our women tend to depend on wholesome basis upon the males in their families, for their economic and financial needs. It is only when they are hurt and deprived of their fundamental right of having financial security, that most women rush to ask and find, the details and nitty gritty of how a simple bank account works. Many do not even know how to draw a cheque or use an ATM card.

Regrettably, it all starts, with the Nikahnama. Most girls in our country, regardless of which strata of society they belong to, submissively sign the ‘instrument of surrender’, without having any adequate, knowledge of its clauses. The painful truth is that many a time, even the families of the bride and bridegroom are unaware that the person who is part of the clergy, in his own ignorance, strikes off all the clauses as ‘invalid’ that render ‘rights’ to the bride. The ‘Haq Mehar’ is never paid by the groom. She (the bride) foolishly, out of love and emotions, discharges the husband of this basic obligation too.

As evidence to this, I asked my better half if she knew the details of the document of allegiance, she had signed at the wedding, she emphatically replied with a ‘No’. Here is a person, who has a Master’s degree in International Relations from Quaid-e-Azam University and who has to her credit a book authored by her, ‘Russian Intervention in Afghanistan’. However, despite being so literate and well travelled, she is absolutely ignorant about her ‘rights’ of even those given and bestowed by our religious beliefs and standards. This story is true and is faced by nearly all young females in our society.

It has been observed that in our society women are more dependent on men in their lives, especially when it comes to finances. To my utter surprise even those women who have full time employment or are entrepreneurs in their own right are unaware of the options available to secure themselves ‘financially’. Shunned of financial knowledge, women are easily duped by both strangers and family members. They fall prey to attractive profit gains offered by financial scammers; they end up buying property that doesn’t exist; they invest in ponzi schemes; they share without suspicion and doubt the intricate details of their financial holdings. Women are gullible in our culture to male machinations that lead them to be denied share in ancestral property. Single females, who are sisters or daughters to manipulative brothers or parents, are refused a share in the distribution of family estate by showing them as wedded to the holy book.

Divorce settlements are a farce in our society. Unfortunately, not all marriages have a fairy tale ending. Some marriages end on an ugly note too. Divorce, like marriage, is always a first time experience; hence, it comes with mostly unpleasant surprises. Since the principal document (Nikahnama) is tinkered and tampered, the measly rights stand repudiated. Denied of access to rightful share, the female in this frame of life is the innocent victim who discovers this the hard way. There is no such thing as a decent divorce, they are inherently, all ugly, dirty and murkier. Divorce acquires more indecency and distastefulness when it comes to financial settlements. Since most women in our society are dependent financially on their husbands, the social stigma of divorce brings alongside the financial distress, a sense of guilt, shame and about not being intelligent enough to have financially secured oneself. Unlike the USA and other Northern hemisphere countries, there are no free financial education organisations. The West has specialised and certified financial analysts who help to figure out on what terms should women agree to a divorce settlement. In those societies even the terminal benefits from the husband’s employers are legally attached to the settlement funds.

To those women, who subscribe to the concept of being a ‘DINK Family’ (Double Income No Kids) make sure you keep your income separate. Set aside emotions and divide judiciously, the responsibility to settle bills and invoices. An unsure financial future can be terrifyingly intimidating and scary. But if it is well thought out and planned, it can also accord confidence and empowerment.

Financial literacy alone will not bestow upon females the much needed economic emancipation; there is also a need to acquire proper understanding of some basic economic issues. Most women tend not to take enough and required interest in seeking financial viability. It needs to be emphasised with clarity that female financial literacy is just the tip of the iceberg of financial problems faced by women - the gender pay gap is real, the iniquitous distribution of wealth is a fact, and hence focus on literacy alone cannot be used as a cover to obscure the real issue of equal rights in all spheres of life. A wholesome financial literacy programme can enable a better understanding of both, the individual financial rights for better financial security and collectively for developing a deeper insight to know socio-economic issues that affect and alter future financial security.

Bankers and financial gurus must be trained to provide relief to widows and divorcees, who may be innocent of the financial world and its wizardry. They can act as financial therapists by offering sincere and professional financial advice. Just as it is considered good to have a family doctor; families must consider having a ‘family banker’. Currently too, most senior bankers without formal nomination act as financial advisers to families, and more so they help in cases of bereaved families. Women must proactively ask their fathers, brothers or husband, details of where the family silver is stored and who is entitled to operate. Even those without silver must seek knowledge of family savings.

Tara Halonen, the first female President of Finland, in an article on Women’s rights, wrote, “In Chad, the government excludes many women and girls from land allocations, leaving them with insecure tenure. Gender norms that devalue the contributions of women further reinforce their precarious position. The common expression ‘Mara Sakit’ (meaning she’s just a woman) exemplifies this sexist dynamic.”

Borrowing from the Chadian term, the regrettable slogan of the male Pakistani specie is ‘Mara Sakit’. This word explains our collective attitude towards women’s financial empowerment and emancipation.

The writer is a senior banker and a freelance contributor.