Are we masculinising our money?
Updated: Jun 7, 2021
My initial budgeting posts were just my takes on managing our finances, and I wasn't really sure they would lead anywhere - but here we go, on another blog...
So let's get into my most recent pet peeve - the masculinisation of money!
As a young Pacific woman, already dealing with cultural overwhelm, the added layer of masculinising money adds insult to injury - I think its time to call it out for what it is. INEQUALITY. SEXISM. DISCRIMINATION.
Let me start with the beginnings to realizing this.
My daily dose of caffeine
I LOVE my coffee (and my gangster rap - don't come for me - but Baby Shark is almost always mixed up with 'Drop It Like It's Hot') - but have you heard the opinion that 'saving your money on your coffees mean investment in savings and becoming rich'?
There is a book called The Latte Factor which is as patronizing as it is condescending and biased - yes, I said it; and I'm also saying Don't buy into it.
What the Latte Factor preaches is that not buying your daily coffee will earn you $1 million over 40 years. The numbers are idiotic, if matrixed realistically in Solomon Islands (How many coffees do we drink a day?) and put into context (Would the average Solomon woman be spending her money on takeaway coffee? Probably not).
Cultural Stereotypes
Now I personally DON'T buy coffee everyday, and make mine at home - that said though - let's make coffee-bar hopping the subject of a separate blog series for the coffee enthusiasts, shall we? Because, no man will tell me whether or not I am entitled to spend my own money on something that makes me smile.
So is this blog about coffee or money, you ask. Bear with me, please!
Does my husband get judged for buying a coffee some mornings? Absolutely not. People would most likely say "Hem waka man ya... hem sa affordim" (He's a working man - he can afford it).
Me, doing the same though? Super judged. "Lukim go, spendim selen lo hem seleva... But garem pikinin lo house, etc etc etc...". If you're young, well dressed, maybe a bit confident? Gossiped to a crisp. "Must garem anyone lo logging camp naya". ('Must have someone supporting her lifestyle from a logging camp' - basically insinuating you are a prostitute and a logger funds your lifestyle).
I really cannot make this stuff up.