No one knows how the current crisis will affect the world economy or the female economy in particular, but some of the findings cited in a 2017 Harvard Business Review will certainly still be relevant.
The Female Economy, as the Business Review calls it, will continue to drive world economy as it has for years now, largely unrecognized by women or the largely male managers of corporate, financial and medical services.
It is projected that women will control 20 to 28 TRILLION in consumer spending in the near future, at a growth rate twice as large as that of India and China combined. This enormous sum will probably decrease but the fact that women control it will remain.
In consumer spending, women control 94% of home furnishing buying, 92% of vacations (and how will that effect the resurgence of the biggest cruise line in spite of its high incidence of infection?), 91% of home buying and 60% of car expenditures—and yet no car manufacturer has recognized the need of many women drivers to have some place to put our purses.
Any other group controlling this level of spending would long since have taken control of the corporations involved, yet women at best are middle managers in most businesses and are often, as of now, “last hired, first fired.” We are paid less, have lower levels of life and medical insurance, and often because of the unresolved conflict between child-raising and career, lave the job market before we have reached our full potential.
But wait! Isn’t this bound to change? At this point, three-fourths of the workers losing their jobs are men because underpaid and overworked women in essential services such as health care are women. We respond to the call; do we also accept being martyred by the economy?
It is important for the 9% of U.S. women who belong to what the Harvard study calls Elite/Independent to step up to leadership roles. Contrary to the stereotype of leisured, spoiled non-contributors, these women earn 15 percent of U.S. wages and, again according to this study, “work the most.” In the near future, fifty percent of the projected 22 TRILLION U.S. private wealth will be in our hands.
But where is our influence felt? Not in corporate decision making. For example, women on Fortune 500 boards make up only 12.5% of the officers and the rate is slowing for women at all levels of the corporate structure.
Why?
Because those of us in that top 9% have not learned how to use our power. Partly, this may be because our relationships with the men in our lives—fathers, husbands—are more influential than our relationships with other women.
We all love power. In this patriarchy where men still control most of it in terms of influence, position and prestige, everything in our social training pushes us to listen to their wishes and aid in furthering their priorities, often at the sacrifice of our own and other women’s needs and wishes.
And so the immensity of our economic power, even in these times, doesn’t ensure that any one of us, no matter what our income level, can easily find a pair of pants that fits or a solution for stowing our purses in our cars other than slinging them on the back seat.
Sarah Gorham says
Love this. The art is both scary and funny.
LeAnne says
This is spot on! It’s time for women to unapologetically realize the strength of our voice and utilize the power of our buying decisions to make changes that benefit us all.