Why are women often pursuing purpose in business while men seem free to solely pursue profit?
The Deep Read is where I dive into less shallow waters. Often it’s just a place to start a deeper conversation where your input and insight is not only welcome, but adds to each piece.
So many women I know in business shy away from talking about money, to the point that they’ll even say they aren’t in business for the money. Women spend a great deal of time looking for and defining their purpose, often losing money and delaying success in the process. Women are consistently under-earning, under-charging, overworking and not valuing their own efforts.
And society at large seems to reinforce this.
In my own business, I was made (both publicly and privately) to feel ashamed and wrong for making money by taking financial risks and being good at my job. It was often framed that if I was actually helping people, I shouldn’t charge them, that I should give away my services for free. In many cases, I was asked who built my business for me or who gave it to me. It was truly shocking.
And the more successful I looked, the more vitriol I got. It was so confusing and ultimately lead me to want to dig in deeper.
Men, on the other hand, are prized for how much money they can amass, make and charge.
What’s going on here?
If you’ve been socialized as a woman, you’ve likely been subject to society’s thoughts about women to the point that you’ve adopted many of them as fact. It makes a lot of sense that if you think you’ll be societally punished for making money, that you would diminish your own ability to make money or to hide the fact that you are making good money.
But this is also a thing– we need money in a capitalist society to live, to make the changes we care about, to take care of other humans and the planet, to fulfill that purpose we care so deeply about.
Here’s a handful of thoughts that I’ve gathered on this subject from my clients:
“Women aren’t good with money.”
“Men are the ones we trust with money.”
“I get an allowance for doing nothing.” (FYI, this woman is a full-time caretaker of 2 children).
“I don’t want anyone to know how much money I make.”
“Money isn’t important to me, I just need enough to live off of.”
“I’m not in this for the money.”
