Money Musings 💠the surprising impact of stereotypes
What you’ll find below:
Reflection: The surprising impact of stereotypes
Money Move: Support a women owned business with a reoccurring expense
Reel of the Week: A cost per wear take
I was recently trying to parallel park (very unsuccessfully) in front of a few jeering men and was reminded of a study I read about women and math.
Before I tell you about the study I need to share that I’ve parallel parked many, many times successfully, but something about this situation with onlookers had me freeze up. I forgot everything I knew.
In the book The Confidence Code the authors Katty Kay and Claire Shipman call this "stereotype threat."
They cite a study where they had highly gifted Asian-American female undergraduates take questionnaires that played into different stereotypes before taking a difficult math test.
The first emphasized that Asians are good at math, the second that women are bad at math, and the third was neutral (emphasized neither stereotype).
The results? The women who were reminded of their Asian heritage answered 54% correctly, the control / neutral group answered 49% correctly and the women who were reminded of their gender scored 43%. The lowest.
Anywhere there are stereotypes there is a stereotype threat. Think about all the stereotypes about women and money. Woof.
So what can we do about it?
I reached out to Katty (co-author of The Confidence Code) to get some answers.
How do we overcome performing to stereotypes?
Here’s what she said.
Being aware of the stereotypes and how they might negatively impact our performance is, of course, a good start. In that moment a few things could help.
One, be a bit kind to yourself - you are trying to do something that is challenging, in front of an audience that's behaving in a way that is almost inevitably going to increase the stress around the challenge. Under those circumstances, messing up is entirely normal, and human.
In The Confidence Code we write about a field of psychology called self-compassion - it's putting yourself in the context of being human, and humans do mess up. Self-compassion also advises treating yourself as you would a good friend.
You're a good parker, you've succeeded at it often, those men simply put you off. Their childish laughter is no reflection of your actual ability.
Thank you for the wise words and confidence boost Katty!
Have you experienced ‘stereotype threat’? I’d love to hear from you!
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
SWITCH A RECURRING EXPENSE TO A WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS.
Every time we make a purchase, we’re casting a vote with our dollars. Consider the people and types of businesses you’d like to support.
ICYMI we have an amazing gift guide that highlights your and my favorite women-owned businesses to buy from this holiday season. We can also support women-owned businesses with our recurring expenses.
Think of something you buy regularly (ie. shampoo, takeout, house plants, etc.) and make the switch to a woman-owned business. It’s a great way to vote for the world you want to see! I love learning about the founders and stories behind the businesses, too!
You can also check out our highlights on Instagram to see some of the Fiscal Femme communities’ favorites! If you have a business you’d like us to add to the list, hit reply and let me know!
your weekly money wins
Here are all the amazing money moves you made this week
Dani: About to get pre-approved for a mortgage!! Been dreaming about this for 14 years
Maddie M: I paid off my car loan 3 years early! Now it's time to start socking away money for a house down payment
Rachel: Only bought things I needed for Black Friday/Cyber Monday
Jessica C: Stuck to my plan for Black Friday / holiday gift shopping!
Jenn: Returned everything I didn't use for Thanksgiving. No spend Black Friday
Jessica M: Planning our auto contributions for 2024 and getting ready to do our back door Roth IRAs!
Shel: Stayed within my Christmas budget and used my sinking fund I've been building all year!
Maria: Able to pay for unanticipated new oven from "home maintenance" sinking fund
Sarah R: Finally making a small dent in my debt. Small steps...
Felicity B: Changed my company to an S-Corp and set up a 401k
Matic: Paid off 90% of my CC bal Credit score went up by 32 points