Good Morning Dinks. This post is dedicated to all of our Lady-Dinks friends. I recently found an article on USA Today that discusses where women spend their money and how we manage our money. The article also has some interesting statistics about married couples and single couples as well as who controls the money in the majority of households.
I think it’s interesting to note that there is a whole demographic missing from this article as well as many statistics in general. Whenever we fill out a survey we have to identify ourselves as being married or single, but what about those of us who are in a long term relationship but who remain unmarried? I know that being single is the opposite of being married, but what about those of us who are in between?
There is one particular sentence in the USA Today article that caught my attention and I think it’s worth mentioning because I want to know how you (both men and women) feel about this statement:
“Women are gaining financial independence to an unprecedented degree; they now make up the majority of college graduates, (women) are nearly half of the labor force and (women) are becoming the primary earners in many households.”
I understand that these are facts based on a recent demographic survey, but are they also the author’s personal bias because the author chose to include the fact that women are gaining equality to men as far as finances go?
I am not sure if as a woman I should be offended by this article, but I am. I thought that we live in the year 2012 and that the traditional roles of men making money for the family and women staying home to cook and clean all day were a thing of the past, but maybe I am wrong.
Maybe USA Today didn’t get the memo but its 2012 and women are financially equal to men, we are not just gaining financial independence at an unprecedented degree, as USA Today stated. Please let me know if I am totally overreacting or if you interpreted this article to be as offensive as I did.
Regardless of the personal bias in this article there are a lot of interesting facts and statistics presented in the article on the different between singles and married couples.
Here are some financial statistics about America:
Marital Status in American Households
– Only 49% of American households have married couples (is anyone surprised by this? I thought it would be higher)
– 19% of American households have single women
– 15% of American households have single men
Financial Control in American Households
– 31% of American households equally share their finances between both the man and the woman
– 26% of American households have their finances influenced by the man in the home
– 17% of American households have their money completely controlled by women
– 14% of American households have their money completely controlled by men
Making Money in American Households
– 42% of American households have a woman who works but who earns less money than the man in the household
– 36% of American households have a woman who does not work (this seems really high)
– 22% of American households have a woman who earns more money than the man in the household
I think it’s interesting to note that there is no statistic about the percentage of American households who have a woman working and a man not working. Doesn’t that also exist?
Photo by sushiina
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
I agree with your assessment of some of those numbers (Really!?! 36% of American households have a woman who does not work??).
My own family situation is also a dink type, and I’m happy to report that my husband (yes, i am married) and I bring in the same salary, and I moderate the finances. I don’t say control because a) husband doesn’t like that and b)I don’t think it’s fair for one of us to control something that is so very very equally ours. I would certainly feel oppressed if he ‘controlled’ our finances!!
He has, however, admitted that he is not so great at being the ‘primary’ influence, and now we are happy to have finally reached the point (after many years of bickering) where we can both just ‘tweak’ what we’ve already set up.
“I am not sure if as a woman I should be offended by this article, but I am. I thought that we live in the year 2012 and that the traditional roles of men making money for the family and women staying home to cook and clean all day were a thing of the past, but maybe I am wrong.”
You’d be surprised. There are many women who do just that: stay home with the kids and cook and clean, doing essentially the domestic aspect of the relationship.
@Taylor – One person taking control of the finances can definitely work for some couples, especially if one person (such as my boyfriend or your husband) doesn’t want to hear about it. As long as there is food in the fridge and the satellite bill for the NFL network is paid on time my boyfriend doesn’t really take an active role in managing our finances. However, we don’t have joint accounts so I really don’t know what he does with his money after the bills are paid.
@Ginger – I personally would love to work from home because that means I am living my dream of being an author, however working in the home as a full time maid is just not for me.
Thanks for reading ladies.