This is a summary of what was discussed on 25 February, 2024 on the topic of financial feminism.
At the Sunday discussion on financial feminism, one of the main questions was how to not perpetuate a growth-oriented exploitative system while this system is forcing us to take care of our financial and thus existential security individually. We discussed that there are felt little options to not being forced to understand a financial system that is built around a male mindset. We discussed some gender roles around finances. Men are often expected to understand finances as it matters for their gender role (status defined over power defined over money; the male bread-winner of the family; career and financial success) whereas women face expectations around, for example, beauty. Women face economic devaluation more, for example, the motherhood penalty, or still taking up a big part of the unpaid labour.
While we all struggled with the question around our personal finances in the capitalist system, we shared some websites and initiatives that could provide some guidance, such as October and etoro (here you can practice investing with fake money). Some alternative investment and funding options that we also discussed were crowdfunding, mutual aid, community saving pools. Sandy’s article on financial feminism on our website also provides some alternatives.
Another important aspect was the access to knowledge around finances. In most countries of the people present, personal finances and finances in general are not part of the school education. Family background plays a role in the type of education we receive on the topic as well.
Lastly, we discussed how we would envision the financial system differently. This system would not be harmful to other people, and would be community-oriented. It would abandon the growth imperative and delink resources from commercialisation and financialisation (such as water or housing).