Why Women Are Poorer Than Men and What We Can Do About It

by Annabelle Williams

Money gives us freedom.

It gives us choices . . .

But why is it women are nearly always poorer than men?

The modern world is rigged unfairly in men's favour. From pensions to the tampon tax, bearing children to boardroom bullying, Why Women Are Poorer Than Men shows how society conspires to limit women's wealth.

- Did you know that the NHS spends more on Viagra than helping single mother families eat healthily?

- Or, that women are the majority of the elderly poor?

- Or, that female entrepreneurs only receive 1p in every £1 of funding given to start-up businesses?

Economies thrive when women do well, and only by understanding why women are poorer than men can we finally end this unfair disparity between the sexes.

Annabelle Williams, former financial journalist for The Times, reveals how we got here and what we can all do to fix it. Her extensive expertise will equip and empower you with the knowledge to solve financial inequality between men and women for good.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Gender, Womens, Economics, Finance, Sociology

288 pages, Hardcover

Published April 16, 2020

Reviews

[Megan Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew the situation was bad. But bloody hell. We’re utterly utterly fucked ladies. This book made me look at my online banking for the first time in weeks (I’m scared of finances) and that alone deserve praise.

[Ainslie Wilson-Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐ Absolutely loved this. Part history lesson detailing why the huge economic gap exists today, part polemic against neoliberalism, the patriarchy, and austerity, and part beginners guide to money management and growing your wealth. I'll be recommending this to everyone!

[Eleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. All women should read this. Does what it says on the tin really - explains why women are poorer than men and then tells us in a clear and uncondescending way what we can do about it. Particularly liked that it underscored the impact of infantilising women, even just historically, on our ability to understand finance.

[Cecile Dixon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the book has some really interesting facts about the UK. It did not like the writing style. I also found it almost a complaint session with only the last chapter giving some useful tips.

[a dog who learned to read · Rating 4 out of 5]

As soon as I heard about this book I had to read it, because the topic is one I've been acutely aware of for a while and idly wondering about. It's also a topic that I think doesn't necessarily occur to a lot of people, so I was really interested in it for that reason too.

The book goes into lots of different aspects of avenues that create financial inequality between the sexes and is concise and neat. It offers a lot of legal facts and stats that pack quite a punch and are super valuable ways to paint a picture of women's progression both socially and financially. It offers a good, quick look into how women's finances are shaped, with a few good suggestions for financial progression too.

I think it's a great read, but I did think some parts were a bit awkward, like the mention of the much-maligned naked Mary Wollstonecraft statue in the book's conclusion that takes a partisan approach.

"We are still debating how we should elevate women", says the author, after describing the wholly reasonable criticisms of the statue's strangeness in comparison with normative male statues. It's a shame she ends her book with this blinkered observation that seems at odds with the book's overall urgency with regard to taking questions of financial parity for women seriously and giving them the importance they deserve. The statue talk deserves just as much, as women's legacies play a huge part in modern financial freedom and ability for women. Also that statue sucks.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important but damn depressing

[Emily Jolliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd have given another star if this book didn't come across as so biased. Eg. it reads as though we're all supposed to feel really sorry for all the women who do way more housework and child-raising than men, but it does take into account all the women (and we all know them) who won't "let" their partner do a lot of these tasks because "he won't do it properly".

The book also doesn't acknowledge that when a heterosexual couple with children separates, it so often the norm that the mother has the children way more than the father does, because this is what SHE wants. Eg. he might have the child(ren) on alternate weekend, because this is often the maximum a mother will "allow".

There is also no acknowledgement that in consensual cases of conception, the woman is 50% responsible for the pregnancy occurring - this didn't just randomly happen to her out of the blue! Sex has consequences, and if a woman isn't prepared to have a baby, why did she participate? Are women really helpless "victims"?

Bias was again shown when findings of research was provided, followed by a statement such as "which is ludicrous". This is clearly trying to steer the reader into a certain direction of thinking, rather than giving us the space and respect to form our own conclusions.

[Creed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely brilliant. Everyone should read it; it should be taught in schools!

Broken down into clear topics, the research is presented in an easy-to-understand way, and the writing is clear and succinct.

This book somehow manages to cover almost every single topic in finance and society, and shows the real world consequences of how governments have betrayed and let down women. It's something we all know, but it was eye-opening to see the extent of this in every facet of our society.

The author gives plenty of examples, recommendations for further reading on the topics, and real advice on what to look into or who to contact if you are affected by certain issues.

She also focuses on how these issues can be tackled, either by the government, corporations, or women themselves (without putting the onus on women to "be more assertive" or implying that it's at all their fault).

This was a much easier read than I was expecting, because the data can be very disheartening, but rather than just acknowledging the problem, this author has realistic hope for improvement, which makes this book a solid 5 stars.

[Toni Kely-Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written accessible book about not just the pay gap (which isn't the same as equal pay for equal work - I'm always surprised and how many people confuse this *sigh*) but the the legal, political, policy, social and cultural constructs that women have faced (and continue to face) which means they earn less then men, invest less then men and retire with less than men. It discusses traditionally female occupations, "pink tax", welfare, caring responsibilities, domestic and financial abuse, etc. I like that the author didn't just tell the readers about the disadvantages women face but also provided possible solutions, including financial and investment education.

[Mafalda Viana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell yes!

This book is written from a Western European perspective, with a lot of references to the US as well. As developed countries, we tend to believe that the fight for equality is over. The issue is, even if we have a moral and intellectual objection to men and women being treated differently, once we’ve learned to see the world in a particular way, we may not even be aware of the subliminal messages and prejudices we get bombarded with on a daily basis.

The author does a brilliant job at uncovering the historical reasons that lead us to where we are today. The book is then broken down into clear chapters, each discussing a different topic and highlighting the subliminal ways in which the world is still biased towards men. Williams smashes the neo-liberal view that women’s economic fate is due to their individual choices and explains how its also heavily influenced by the intrinsic sexism in our society. Even though it might not be the most uplifting read, this book is extremely easy to read and all the research is presented in a very engaging and easy-to-understand way. I found it really hard to put it down! If you’ve read other books on gender inequality, I’d still highly recommend this one as it brings a new and important perspective to the table.

The only thing I was slightly underwhelmed by was the last chapter, where the author tries to demystify investing and explains some key concepts and strategies. The author mentions investing in property, individual stocks, and actively managed funds but fails to mention index funds - often perceived as a more beginner-friendly investment. However, I'm aware that it would be impossible to cover everything about investing in one single chapter. After all, this is a book focused on financial gender inequality and not financial education. The fact that the author went the extra mile and tried to provide some resources for the target audience (presumably mostly women, although I would recommend this to absolutely anyone!) is still very impressive.

[Yehyeon Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Women are Poorer than Men - And What We Can Do About It

by

Annabelle Williams


There are many influencers out there that focus heavily on personal responsibility in the question of success. While there is some merit to that notion, the reality is somewhat more, shall we say, nuanced and much more dependent on structural factors that systematically discriminate against certain groups, and this book focuses on how those structures in society have been and continue to be unfair to women.

With the rise of feminism and feminist movements, by now most people will be aware that there is some sort of inequality present, somewhere, affecting some people, sometimes. Part of solving a problem is knowing whence the problem hails, thus history is kind of important in gaining a better understanding of the frustration and, sometimes fury, of feminists in the face of discriminatory laws and regulations or practices. Williams does a brilliant job at discussing a notable selection of issues concerning some of the causes of financial disparity between men and women.

Though we have come a long way from viewing women as property to women now being able to independently own property, Williams examines how there continues to be abounding discrimination. Myths about womens’ ineptitude for all things money still leads to more scrutiny for women-owned start-ups, higher interest rates on mortgage loans for women in comparison to men, and the list just goes on and on. Not to mention the social pressures that are exerted on women to look and act a certain way, everyday items costing more because they are for women, no consideration for menstruation or menopause in the workplace, and a lack of sanctions for businesses and employers discriminating on the basis of gender.

This book isn’t about victimhood, but about raising awareness that this sort of inequality represents reality for many women out there. The digression to history helps us in placing blame where blame is due and also appreciating the progress that has been made. Williams also talks a fair amount about potential solutions to many problems addressed in her book. I found this book to be well worth my while and am certain it will be worth yours.

[Beatrice Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting (and quite sad) discussions in this book. Really digestible to read, particularly for a lay person not well versed in economics/law and really good for some general knowledge of the inequalities - definitely made me critically think a lot and want to do more reading into certain aspects of this!

[Sayuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening read! My eyes were opened to many aspects and mechanisms that run a society. Some parts were heart breaking to read - the parts that discuss how neglected, overlooked and suppressed women’s needs are, even in the most liberal countries.

[Abby Stapleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

rounded up from 3.5 stars

[Libby Low · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential read for all women, but also men who want to be part of gender equality. This book clearly explains the many reasons why women are poorer than men and gives some useful tips to grow your wealth and highlights what’s needed for society to change too. I want all my friends to read this 🫶🏻

[Ruby Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every woman should read this

4.3 stars

[Charlotte Baken · Rating 2 out of 5]

some interesting points but generally a bit meh.

[Bougon Yves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suggest that all men involved in business and management read this very well researched book. It’s eye opening. The society should do everything to make sure women aren’t poorer as men. A conclusion in praise of universal basic income, which is a mean to fix women’s poverty… A lot of good examples.

[Catarina | cat literary world · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ranking non fiction books is always a challenge. At least for me, that haven’t read that many yet to have a lot to compare them with.

I feel we can always learn something from non fiction, which is the main goal, so it’s always rewarding. Nevertheless, I decided to go to 4 stars, instead of 5, and I will explain why.

I’ve felt the book, overall, is very well constructed. I’ve read “Invisible Women” (by Carolina Criado Pérez) and I consider it an excellent book for all of those that want to start reading more about feminism. It tackles a lot of issues, but in a less deepper approach. If you start “Why women are poorer than men and what we can do about it”, know that it is much more in depth, so it may not be ideal if you are, just now, starting on the topic. Still, I consider it a good book in the sense that it explores several problems concerning women’s finances.

The author starts by saying that she will be focusing on Europe and North America, and I highly appreciated the fact that she chose a region to focus on (she explains the reasons). The truth is, women’s reality - finance and otherwise - is highly shaped by women’s surroundings, country they are living in, etc. I feel it makes more sense to tackle issues by regions and explore the inequality that arises in result of a specific reality, rather than try a “one size fits all approach”.

Despite being focus on Europe + North America, the book is mainly focused on UK and USA realities, which is not a problem per si. However, it becomes somewhat boring for those of us living in Europe or North America but outside of UK and USA when specific politics of UK/USA are being discussed, which ended up being the reason for lowering the classification from 5 to 4 stars. Additionally, given the fact that a LOT of Europe’s countries work in euros, it felt like something was lacking when money was being discussed only in dollars and pounds. Could I looked up the conversion? Yes, yes I could. But I felt this doesn’t solve the issue for some reasons:

1. If the author (British) decided to present money only in pounds, I could understand, but since she does it in both pounds and dollars, just felt like a lack of effort to not have it in euros as well
2. This book deals with the reality when it was written. Money conversion is not always the same, it depends on money’s prize, so, if I look up the conversion 5 years from now, I won’t be getting the correct information about reality at the time. At least, we should have a table of the conversion at the time, for the countries under analysis
3. Just doesn’t make sense representing Europe’s reality regarding money but doesn’t presenting the values in Europe’s most used coin

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provisionnal 3.5
Informative and interesting book that I should get back to someday to read it in more depth.

It first establishes a picture of the situation and introduces key unsettling facts, such as:
>There are more men called Dave running the UK's top 100 companies than there are women altogether.
>Women outperform men educationally at every level from high school to PhD - but still get paid less.

The book raises two very good questions, and manages to answer them partially.
Here are some of the things I remember from the book:

Why Women Are Poorer Than Men?
=> Mostly a systemic issue
=> Different stereotypes hindering gender pay equality

What We Can Do About it?
=> Not much at an individual level (since it's a systemic issue)
=> One solution proposed is learning how to invest as a woman
=> Another, raise awareness to HR teams to tackle the gender pay gap

The book gives an interesting overview and key facts on the topic. However, I regret not having a more developped list of solutions at the end, since it is was one of the part I was most interested in.

Being a complex issue however, I can imagine the difficulty of recommending anything at all. If solutions were easy and straightforward, the issue would have probably been solved by now.

Thanks to Annabelle Williams for her work and the recommendations and solutions put forward. This certainly adds up to the research on this major issue, too often forgotten by companies and political leaders.

[Colours19 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, concise introduction to the topic covering the various factors which contribute to poorer financial outcomes for women, including work and income inequality, undervaluation of care work, government policies (like more healthcare benefits for conditions which affect men over those which affect women), and why life costs more for women (greater social expectations which cost money, 'pink tax'). The author also covered some potential solutions but didn't go deep into them

Ultimately, though, I didn't like the book that much as I felt that there was nothing really new about the analysis, and felt like a listing more than analysis at points. I think the author was also trying to use the book as a platform to educate women about how they can improve their own financial outcomes (with a heavy focus on how to get into investing) in the last part, which made the book seem like an odd cross between an academic work and a self-help book. This self-help approach also seemed to be doing exactly what the author criticised other academics for in the earlier parts of the book - placing the blame for and responsibility to correct inequality on women. I'm personally also conflicted about investing because it feels like a perpetuation of the capitalist model which is a driving force generating a lot of wealth inequality.

[Egle Küngas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book describes pretty well the systematic reasons why women end up in poverty. There are crazy examples still happening today on how women need to spend more time doing unpaid work, spend more money on menstrual pads, beauty products etc that men are able to invest. This adds up being poorer and more dependent in an older age. For example, nurses and pilots need the same qualities to do their job but for some reason nurses (mostly women's work) gets paid a lot less. Viargra is being a lot more subsidized (not truly necessary) but some mostly female diseases are not supported by the governments. Also, fat women tend to get a lower salary but fat men tend to get a higher salary. We need better laws and also punishments to follow how salaries are being paid, value caretaking jobs, understand that half of the population did not choose to menstruate and this is nothing a "defect".
Maybe it was too much about the systems in UK and therefore ****. Still a good read for sure.

[Linda Amos · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's taken me ages to read this book, simply because it made me so angry. Most women know that we have been treated as less than 2nd class for centuries but individuals and corporations. It's not until you see it in a book such as this you realise the extent. How many know that women weren't allowed to have a bank account in the UK in their own right without having a male relative/husband to co-sign for it? In Jersey it was later than that. There are many other illuminating insights.
The author has been a financial columnist for a national newspaper, and has written this book extremely well. It is an easy read, clear and she also gives some information on investing - how to do it and where to go for further information. I thoroughly enjoyed it - between wanting to throw it out the window!

[A M]

For the last few days I have been listening to Annabelle recording the audio version of her book, so even though it isn't out yet - it will be soon, so put in your pre order!

I have to say it is eye-opening, accessible, and brilliant. It covers all the huge number of ways in which women are disadvantaged financially, from pensions and pay, to the "pink tax" on goods aimed at women, from the disproportionate effect on women, especially poor women, of austerity, to the unequal (read unfair) provision of healthcare for women by the NHS.

Annabelle is clever, bright and brave. And I wish I had come across her work forty years ago. There's so much you can learn from this book about how to manage your financial life more efficiently and more productively. Buy it!

[Maris]

Excellent eye-opener for why the 4th wave of feminism is all about economic justice. She focuses on the UK to showcase how gender imbalance is systemically in place in developed countries, backing it up with loads of data.
The book gave me some interesting questions to try and answer for myself, as well as connecting the dots between many policies and how both men and women fare according to such policies. It's also interesting noticing the differences of countries like UK to Estonia, in terms of their history, as Estonia adopted women's voting rights as well as other more equal policies earlier, in relation to communism - though there is much to be discussed on why this happened and what kind of influence it has had.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book offers a healthy discussion on how a number of every day aspects could potentially lead to financial disadvantages for women. I especially appreciated the analysis on chapter 4 on old age poverty. I also like that the author attempts to give practical solutions for most of the issues presented.


I felt that the book would have benefitted greatly from new research on women and finances. I found many of the arguments familiar as they've been discussed in other books or in the media. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the topic of women and investments is discussed very late in the book and not adequately.

[Evey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been waiting to read this book for a year and it lived up to expectations. This book is very well researched and insightful. Annabelle covers the facts and myths surrounding the reasons why women are poorer than men and the impacts of this. At the beginning of the book, I wanted to know more about the solutions - what we could do to fix this. However the problem solving largely came at the end of the book for most of the topics, which I enjoyed. It also has a great section on an introduction to investing.

[Paul Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the many, many ways in which modern society disadvantages women, primarily financially. Some really eye opening facts and figures, for which I’m indebted to the author. Some great practical advice too, such as how to save and invest and where to get information and support about housing and divorce. Tiny negative point - I think it’s unwise to recommend investing in shares and managed funds to first-time investors, it would be much more sensible to recommend index linked and passive funds.