We would like to take this opportunity to tip our hats to all the moms and motherly figures around the country. We salute you for getting up at the crack of dawn to make sure lunchboxes are filled and for burning the midnight oil, while you wrap your head around the theorem of Pythagoras with your child, so the “homework complete” checkbox, on your never-ending to-do list, is ticked off.
There aren’t any medals for being a good mother, and sometimes the job is a thankless one, but at Wise About Life, we’ve come to understand one thing – the hard work you put in, when nobody is watching, is the stuff that counts the most 🙂
And if you don’t happen to be a mom, we want to congratulate you anyway…for something equally as important.
You see last year we published an article on our blog about the fact that more than 50% of Stangen policyholders are women and at the time of publishing that post, Stangen had R5 184 463 079 in life cover benefits in place for South African women across the country.
What does that tell us?
South African women are taking control of their finances and making some big financial planning decisions in the household.
The “head of family finance” role has historically been the domain of the male or father figure in the home, but that seems to be changing. A recent article we picked up on, cited the fact that younger married women are twice as likely to be making financial decisions than in previous generations, and while the article is published on an American website, the same is true across the world, including sunny South Africa.
What’s changed in a generation?
Let’s take a quick step back in time to 35 years ago when the fax machine and Datsun Pulsar were the pinnacles of technology and Telefun quiz was the highlight of your Monday evening television viewing.
What was the role of the mother in the home during that time?
- Most mothers fulfilled the stay-at-home mom role.
- Mothers who worked certainly didn’t hold very many of the leadership roles in business and the “equal pay” discussion was at least two decades away.
- For the most part, dads brought home the bacon and made most of the financial decisions.
Fast-forward to 2021 and the world is a very different place. Gender stereotypes are fast being eradicated and we are now in a world where a female has a much better chance of being afforded the same opportunities as her male counterpart.
- There are more women in the workplace than ever before.
- Leadership roles in the workplace are more often filled by women (not quite enough yet, but more than a few decades ago)
- Most households run on dual incomes nowadays, which means women have a real say in how the money gets spent.
Since August last year, we can confirm that 5000 women have taken out a Stangen life or funeral policy and decided to take control of particularly important, but often neglected, ‘what if’ questions – for example, “What if something happened to me and I wasn’t able to provide for my family? Who would look after them then?”
Until next time.
The Wise About Life Team
