Guest post by Cindy Couyoumjian
Women are on the verge of extraordinary financial change more than any other time in human history. Today women control $10 trillion in financial assets and by 2030 that figure is expected to rise to $30 trillion. This unprecedented amount of wealth is revolutionary for women. It will give them the unique opportunity to hammer away at the remaining patriarchal obstacles that prevent them from achieving economic freedom and agency in the world.
In my book, The Rise of Women and Wealth, I explore how patriarchy has kept women in a subordinate position for millennia. Over the past one-hundred and fifty years, women started to challenge this oppressive structure that is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. It is everywhere in the sense that it shapes and defines the role of men and women in a male-centered society, yet nowhere because, like gravity, it’s invisible and we don’t think about how this toxic force perpetuates male domination at the expense of women.
The first wave of feminine change challenged the political order, which led to women exercising their inalienable right to vote. The second wave, which was inspired by Betty Friedan’s best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique, challenged the comfortable social construct of the 1950s and ‘60s that defined women as housewives and mothers while simultaneously denying them agency in the world. By the 1990s, and more recently the #MeToo movement, third wave feminism exposed the ugly and toxic side of masculinity. Beginning with the Anita Hill Congressional testimony against United States Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas, and later numerous reports of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry showed what happens when society allows vulgar male power to go unchecked.
Although there is no general agreement regarding the fourth wave of feminine change, I think that we are currently in the midst of a powerful change that will affect women everywhere. I call this change the financial revolution, which will finally give women the power to shape and define their own destinies. . Today, with the massive wealth transfer women are set to inherit, real generational change is within reach. The one thing that is missing, and urgently needed, is that women must improve their financial literacy.
For centuries, women were led to believe they didn’t belong in the male-dominated financial world. As a result, women have not been properly educated about money. For the financial revolution to succeed, women need to embrace money as a tool and learn how to use it. The financial industry needs to increase the number of women financial planners and advisors. Women need to trust their financial intuition and ask questions about investing and creating generational wealth. Women today are on the precipice of long-term change. It’s up to women to take the next step, accept responsibility for driving the financial revolution, and direct this new feminine wave into true equality for women.
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Cindy Couyoumjian is the founder of Cinergy Financial and is dedicated to empower people by expanding their financial literacy and awareness. With 36 years in the industry and seven securities registrations, Cindy is more than a leader in the industry, she is also an innovator of investment methodology. Her newest book, The Rise of Women and Wealth: Our Fight for Freedom, Equality and Control of our Financial Future, urges women to become financially literate and reclaim their power and liberty to become agents of change.