4 Busted Myths About Women and Money

For too long, the myth that women are somehow bad with money has perpetuated our media, marketing, and minds. Advice based on these false assumptions conveys that women are at fault. If they only negotiated harder, took on more risks, and (in short) acted more like a man, then they would succeed.

This view ignores penalties leveraged against women when they attempt the same strategies as men. Rather than being more like a man in a man’s world, we should make the world more equitable in the first place.

To do this, it’s time to call bullshit on four myths about women and money.

Myth: The Wage Gap Exists Because Women Don’t Ask For More

Women, on average, earned only 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2017 (women of color fared much worse at 60.8 cents). This persistent pay disparity is the wage gap. Its causes are multi-faceted and the source of much debate.

The wage gap persists regardless of industry, occupation, education, and hours worked. A study from Cornell University controlled for all of these elements and 38% of the gap remains unaccounted for, leading researchers to conclude that discrimination and unconscious bias continue to play a role. Some critics propose an alternate explanation: what if the disparity is because…