This morning, I had the pleasure of attending a talk hosted by APEX Home Loans, with Liza Mundy as the guest speaker. Liza is the author of “The Richer Sex,” which talks about how the new majority of female breadwinners is transforming sex, love and family. She is a reporter for the Washington Post, and what I love about her talk is that it is all based on research, data, and NOT just her personal opinion. Here were some salient points:
– 60% of college students are now women.
-40% of households are run by women.
-71% of women are now working.
She talked about the “independance effect,” which is a term coined by economists that basically recognizes that with economic independance, women can leave and do whatever they want. Fantastic! To me, this is how it should be– we stay in relationships because we want to– not because we have to.
We’ve heard a lot of talk lately about how this is all affecting children, and of course one very prominent politician just got a lot of slack for suggesting that the decline in education is due to more women being out in the workforce. The reality is that studies show working moms actually spend more quality time with their children, and the kids will be fine as long as they grow up in a happy environment.
It is not a coincidence that the best relationships I have ever had were with men, who ALL grew up with working moms. They have this profound respect for women, and never belittled my contributions. Of course, the best of all was my ex-husband, whose mother was a very successful business woman, and even though our marriage did not last, my ex-husband continues to support my career and non-profit endeavors. In fact, this morning, he covered child-care issues for me so that I could go attend the lecture and book signing. As I was leaving, our son said, “I’m so glad you are not a traditional mom– that would be boring.” He has no idea how proud he made me feel at just that moment.
Now, I may not be rich if you are just measuring this based on the amount of money in someone’s bank account, but in terms of experiences, education, relationships and opportunities– I feel like a lotto winner. Education paves the way to having more choices in life, and having those options, is PRICELESS.
By Regina A. DeMeo, Esq.
