Achieving Women Financial Empowerment

BY AMADASUN ESE

A lot has been said about women empowerment. For over a decade, there has been renewed effort and campaign for women empowerment and participation in the social economic and political activities in the country either by individuals or groups. Seminars, rallies, workshops are usually organized to sensitize the people, most especially, the men folk on the need for gender equality, while other issues such as financial empowerment, wealth empowerment, etc are left out. It is on this issue of financial empowerment that I am focusing on today. The old argument of egg and chicken is a troublesome one.Is it egg that comes before chicken or chicken before egg?

Conventional wisdom posits that chicken is obtained from egg after hatching. However, the big question is which mother chicken produced the egg? Applying this to the issues at hand, which come first, political empowerment or financial empowerment? Which is the structure and which is the superstructure? For all I know, money is the root of all forms of empowerment. For women to speak and be heard, they must be talking from the vantage point of wealth, finance and comfortability.

Hence, women in politics could not advance much compared to their men in politics because of lack of financial means. Therefore, women empowerment must have at its starting point, financial empowerment. For women to be empowered, they must set a banquet of prosperity before themselves to achieve political empowerment.

How can women be empowered financially? That is, how do we encourage our women folks to create wealth needed for the journey to political empowerment? This brings us to the need to have multiple streams of income.

Many investment vehicles can create wealth for individuals, especially the women. Though other investment vehicles are equally important, like buying gold, investing in real estate, bonds and treasury bills, however, investing in stocks is highly recommended. Stock investment is one means that can fast track women financial empowerment. When you invest in the stock market, you increase your net worth rapidly and consistently resulting in great financial empowerment that can give you the needed political emancipation.

I must stress here that people should not confuse entrepreneurial business with investing. When you open a business centre or shop, you are purely carrying on business as an entrepreneur with the sole intent of making profit. Whereas when you invest in stock, you are generating an income generated through the endeavours of others. For example, when you buy First Bank shares, other people are working in First Bank to earn you income. You receive this income in form of dividend and bonus as well as capital appreciation.

People worry about the current capital meltdown and some prospective investors have turned their back on stock investment. My advise to the women folk is that they should seize this golden opportunity to invest in the capital market. During every crisis, there are always opportunities, the global meltdown in the capital market does not mean that every company in that market is having it rough and bad. The time to come in is now; because right now, we can see that the trend of the market is beginning to turn for good.

Women need to develop positive attitude towards investing in stocks, that will bring about financial empowerment. Spend less than you make and lock up the difference in investment. This attitude will shake off your future financial hassles and lead to other types of empowerment such as political empowerment and emancipation.