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Women Talk Money: Breaking the Taboo
A searing and fearless anthology of essays exploring the profound impact of money on women’s lives, edited by prominent feminist and writer Rebecca Walker.
Women Talk Money is a groundbreaking collection that lifts the veil on what women talk about when they talk about money; it unflinchingly recounts the power of money to impact health, define relationships, and shape identity. The collection includes previously unpublished essays by trailblazing writers, activists, and models, such as Alice Walker, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Rachel Cargle, Tracy McMillan, Cameron Russell, Sonya Renee Taylor, Adrienne Maree Brown, and more, with Rebecca Walker as editor.
In this provocative anthology, we discover a family that worships money even as it tears them apart; we read about the “financial death sentence” a transgender woman must confront to live as herself. We trace the journey of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who finally makes enough money to discover her spiritual impoverishment; we follow a stressful email exchange between an unsympathetic university financial officer and a desperate family who can’t afford to pay their daughter’s tuition, and more.
This collection is a clarion call to conduct honest conversations that demystify and transform the role money plays in our lives. Dazzlingly resonant and deeply familiar, Women Talk Money is a revelation.
Women Talk Money is a groundbreaking collection that lifts the veil on what women talk about when they talk about money; it unflinchingly recounts the power of money to impact health, define relationships, and shape identity. The collection includes previously unpublished essays by trailblazing writers, activists, and models, such as Alice Walker, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Rachel Cargle, Tracy McMillan, Cameron Russell, Sonya Renee Taylor, Adrienne Maree Brown, and more, with Rebecca Walker as editor.
In this provocative anthology, we discover a family that worships money even as it tears them apart; we read about the “financial death sentence” a transgender woman must confront to live as herself. We trace the journey of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who finally makes enough money to discover her spiritual impoverishment; we follow a stressful email exchange between an unsympathetic university financial officer and a desperate family who can’t afford to pay their daughter’s tuition, and more.
This collection is a clarion call to conduct honest conversations that demystify and transform the role money plays in our lives. Dazzlingly resonant and deeply familiar, Women Talk Money is a revelation.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2022
37 people are currently reading
2643 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
January 12, 2022
Wow, this is a HEAVY book to read, but so so valuable. There are many contributors to this collection that I didn't know of before whose books I want to take a look at now. Gender equity work is a major part of my career, and so it's important to me to try to better understand the perspectives from people of all different backgrounds. This book is a wonderful resource for this. I'm so grateful to the contributors for being so open and honest in sharing their experiences. Thank you to Rebecca Walker, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for allowing me free access to an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
May 27, 2022
I often struggle with anthologies because I find them uneven. Some writers are really strong. Some are okay. Sometimes it’s not the best work of any writer included. In this one each writer pulled you in with a different idea of the importance and/or effect of money. I feel like I could ruminate on many of these essays, which is always a good sign.
August 31, 2022
I got frustrated with this book at times, to be honest. I expected it to be a bit more clear cut and direct and instead it’s quite philosophical and abstract. This was especially disappointing when reading a few chapters that felt like they actually had nothing to do with money at all. Was hoping for some financial wisdom, insight, and empowerment and this was mostly the last, if that.
April 28, 2022
I loved this. Some stories were too close to home and hard to listen to (I did the audiobook) but they were also tender, honest, and vulnerable.
May 15, 2023
I have mixed feelings about this book.
Each essay was well done and there is an good diversity of voices and perspectives. It really runs the spectrum and I feel is very inclusive and balanced (for the most part, a few small gripes but not really worth mentioning).
I think I am not the intended audience as all the essays were familiar tales I have heard from women in my own life that I already have lessons from. I listened to my friends and acquaintances and I learned and I put those lessons into play years ago and continue to hold those lessons close.
So reading this book, it felt like preaching to the choir. There wasn’t much new for me to get out of it. It was more of what my myself have already heard or experienced for myself.
The stories of those who have struggled with medical and disabling events really resonated for me and I want all those lawmakers, politicians, and those who write policies on healthcare to read these and rethink some of the draconian and cruel ways they punish sick people with debt for trying to get better. I would hope these essays could inspire some compassion in them. Sadly, I don’t know that they read books like this, even though I think they would be the more befitting target audience.
Each essay was well done and there is an good diversity of voices and perspectives. It really runs the spectrum and I feel is very inclusive and balanced (for the most part, a few small gripes but not really worth mentioning).
I think I am not the intended audience as all the essays were familiar tales I have heard from women in my own life that I already have lessons from. I listened to my friends and acquaintances and I learned and I put those lessons into play years ago and continue to hold those lessons close.
So reading this book, it felt like preaching to the choir. There wasn’t much new for me to get out of it. It was more of what my myself have already heard or experienced for myself.
The stories of those who have struggled with medical and disabling events really resonated for me and I want all those lawmakers, politicians, and those who write policies on healthcare to read these and rethink some of the draconian and cruel ways they punish sick people with debt for trying to get better. I would hope these essays could inspire some compassion in them. Sadly, I don’t know that they read books like this, even though I think they would be the more befitting target audience.
August 22, 2025
This book was so very well done. I loved that the editor focused on bringing stories by women (cis or trans) together but further women of varied backgrounds, rich, poor, white, black, Asian, and more! It was so great to hear some stories that I so understood and it was interesting reading others that I could’ve never imagined. While I didn’t read this book quickly since it was short stories from different authors it was easy to pick up and read one story in between other things going on in a day.
Read
May 13, 2022A amazing book and as a Intercultural Money Coach from a diversity of descendants working specific with females in our Surinamese community in the Netherlands and Suriname this subject is so important. Because the white systems are designed to keep us from abundance. To come from a history of slavery - after its abolition / with no access of having money or to any banking system gives people of color still a huge disadvantage. I love, love, love the book! Let's continue to build our own tables! Revbecca Walker and all the writers, thank you so much!
October 5, 2022
"As a woman I was always aware that unless I wanted to be someone else's dependent throughout my life, I must become, myself, my own breadwinner and independent person, and that the freedom this assured meant that I could speak my mind and share my thoughts and resources in any way I choose. A woman afraid to speak her mind is usually a woman who depends for her upkeep from someone else."
The biggest problem that I have with this book is that it wasn't what I expected at all. I came into this book hoping for (direct) financial advice on overcoming the system that feels as if it was built against us. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it nor gain anything from it. Women Talk Money is a collection of essays from women from a multitude of backgrounds to share their stories about the intersectionality of one's background and money. The book is provides memories of women who are black, white, nonbinary, transgender, rich, poor, and so much more.
A common theme within these stories is the idea of money as being a controlling factor in our lives, dictating our limitations and constraining relationships. Although some stories are more philosophical than others and may not have a clear connection with money, they all have something important to share. Here are some of my favorite essays:
- Cracking Open Your Heart Without Breaking the Bank: Financial Tops for Single Mothers
- There Comes the Talk of Money
- Your Body, My Money
- Should I Be Selling This?
- (Sex) Work
And my favorite (and the last chapter): How to Make a lot of Money . And because it's my favorite (and because I want to look back on this later haha), I'm leaving behind the most important points on "how to make a lot of money":
1. There is a lot of money out there. Just breathe it in.
2. Making money starts with making money. Any money.
3. Change your damn mind (about your relationship with money).
4. Deal with your trauma.
5. The call is coming from inside the house. Let go of your whole way of life because the old you has to die to make room for the new you.
6. Start seeing money everywhere. Write your name on it.
7. It's not about how much money. It's about how much energy.
8. It's not about odds. It's about willingness
9. Your spot isn't taken. Because you haven't taken it yet. Just because many seats are taken doesn't mean that there isn't room for you.
10. Making money is an act of self-care.
11. Be the Beverly Hills Money Lady.
Wish all the women who read this become just as empowered and financially free. :)
The biggest problem that I have with this book is that it wasn't what I expected at all. I came into this book hoping for (direct) financial advice on overcoming the system that feels as if it was built against us. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it nor gain anything from it. Women Talk Money is a collection of essays from women from a multitude of backgrounds to share their stories about the intersectionality of one's background and money. The book is provides memories of women who are black, white, nonbinary, transgender, rich, poor, and so much more.
A common theme within these stories is the idea of money as being a controlling factor in our lives, dictating our limitations and constraining relationships. Although some stories are more philosophical than others and may not have a clear connection with money, they all have something important to share. Here are some of my favorite essays:
- Cracking Open Your Heart Without Breaking the Bank: Financial Tops for Single Mothers
- There Comes the Talk of Money
- Your Body, My Money
- Should I Be Selling This?
- (Sex) Work
And my favorite (and the last chapter): How to Make a lot of Money . And because it's my favorite (and because I want to look back on this later haha), I'm leaving behind the most important points on "how to make a lot of money":
1. There is a lot of money out there. Just breathe it in.
2. Making money starts with making money. Any money.
3. Change your damn mind (about your relationship with money).
4. Deal with your trauma.
5. The call is coming from inside the house. Let go of your whole way of life because the old you has to die to make room for the new you.
6. Start seeing money everywhere. Write your name on it.
7. It's not about how much money. It's about how much energy.
8. It's not about odds. It's about willingness
9. Your spot isn't taken. Because you haven't taken it yet. Just because many seats are taken doesn't mean that there isn't room for you.
10. Making money is an act of self-care.
11. Be the Beverly Hills Money Lady.
Wish all the women who read this become just as empowered and financially free. :)
August 22, 2022
Women Talk Monday: Breaking the Taboo Edited by Rebecca Walker
A thought-provoking and not always easy read. I had to separate it out over some days. These are vulnerable and important stories. Each so individual and unique and yet, also linked to a larger narrative, to the systems that shape our lives. Incredible editing by Rebecca Walker, massive congrats to everyone.
The collection of voices and the diversity of lives lived is notable and makes the book, at least to me, a call to action. A call to think about money and our relationship to it. What stands in the way of us making money? Identifying the structures of the world and how it keeps money out of most of our hands and also on an individual level, do we feel like we deserve to make money? Do we believe money equals worth? And if yes, worth to whom?
Money and our relationship to it, whether we have it or not, whether we grew up with it or not, whether we walk into a space with wealth and whether we are seen as fitting in or not, these things shape our lives. My relationship to money has certainly shaped mine. No one should ever have to face the dawn of a new day with terror. To wonder where they will sleep or what they will eat or how they will afford to see a doctor.
I agree with the thesis of this book, the more we talk about money and our relationship to it, the better.
A thought-provoking and not always easy read. I had to separate it out over some days. These are vulnerable and important stories. Each so individual and unique and yet, also linked to a larger narrative, to the systems that shape our lives. Incredible editing by Rebecca Walker, massive congrats to everyone.
The collection of voices and the diversity of lives lived is notable and makes the book, at least to me, a call to action. A call to think about money and our relationship to it. What stands in the way of us making money? Identifying the structures of the world and how it keeps money out of most of our hands and also on an individual level, do we feel like we deserve to make money? Do we believe money equals worth? And if yes, worth to whom?
Money and our relationship to it, whether we have it or not, whether we grew up with it or not, whether we walk into a space with wealth and whether we are seen as fitting in or not, these things shape our lives. My relationship to money has certainly shaped mine. No one should ever have to face the dawn of a new day with terror. To wonder where they will sleep or what they will eat or how they will afford to see a doctor.
I agree with the thesis of this book, the more we talk about money and our relationship to it, the better.
January 29, 2025
Women with different backgrounds are talking about the importance of money in their lifes. Not every story touched me, but many of them did. The importance of having the financial pillow and good insurance coverage in case you or your loved ones get sick. Yeah, we are not thinking about it now, but you know, life is too unpredictable.
Why an expensive lipstick is not just a lipstick but a statement. Importance of tidiness and style in order to have access to better opportunities. Why our hard work doesn't determine our success. But a lot of generations of our family do. Etc. Etc. Etc.
As I said, I couldn't relate to every story, so some of them i just skipped. That's the beauty of an anthology. If you don't like it, you move on and you don't miss anything.
Highly recommend to everyone who is interested in the topic of money amd wants to know different views on it.
Why an expensive lipstick is not just a lipstick but a statement. Importance of tidiness and style in order to have access to better opportunities. Why our hard work doesn't determine our success. But a lot of generations of our family do. Etc. Etc. Etc.
As I said, I couldn't relate to every story, so some of them i just skipped. That's the beauty of an anthology. If you don't like it, you move on and you don't miss anything.
Highly recommend to everyone who is interested in the topic of money amd wants to know different views on it.
Read
August 7, 2022DNF. I tried. This book does not contain uplifting stories of women defying odds and making money work for them. In fact, the few essays I read made money seem icky and anyone seeking to make it as terrible people.
July 12, 2023
Not your average money book.
This is a completely different money book that I had ever read, then I expect it, and it is exactly the money book that is needed. Rebecca Walker deserves all the accolades for bringing this group of people together for such a wide ranging and impactful collection of essays. The power of the collection is in its sheer diversity of contributors from activists and philanthropists to sex workers, models, first generation immigrants, trans folks, and people who embody more than a few of those labels at once. It truly fit a gap in our collective conversations about money. It's not a book about budgeting, investing, saving or wealth-building in a traditional sense. It's about navigating illness, financial precarity, old money wounds, limiting beliefs, colonization, racism, capitalism, and all of the things that money can't fix. It's about how we use money as a tool to show up for each other - because in the end community is the one form of abundance that we truly have. This is a money book for people who live on the margins. Black people, people of color, people who grew up in and or are currently experiencing poverty. It's about what money means when life gets hard. When the worst happens whether that's housing insecurity, job loss, chronic illness, losing and inheritance and the safety net you had, or the death of a loved one and the income they provided to your househol. Its also about money as a tool for your personal and the collective well being. Sonya Renee Taylor and Tracy McMillan's stories in particular shifted something for me in terms of the safety, security, and community money can allow for. I saw myself in a number of a stories and there were some so different from anything i had imagined and all valuable. I had my heart broken over and over again and my beliefs challenged. I can't wait to recommend this to my women and wealth-building group and every woman I know.
This is a completely different money book that I had ever read, then I expect it, and it is exactly the money book that is needed. Rebecca Walker deserves all the accolades for bringing this group of people together for such a wide ranging and impactful collection of essays. The power of the collection is in its sheer diversity of contributors from activists and philanthropists to sex workers, models, first generation immigrants, trans folks, and people who embody more than a few of those labels at once. It truly fit a gap in our collective conversations about money. It's not a book about budgeting, investing, saving or wealth-building in a traditional sense. It's about navigating illness, financial precarity, old money wounds, limiting beliefs, colonization, racism, capitalism, and all of the things that money can't fix. It's about how we use money as a tool to show up for each other - because in the end community is the one form of abundance that we truly have. This is a money book for people who live on the margins. Black people, people of color, people who grew up in and or are currently experiencing poverty. It's about what money means when life gets hard. When the worst happens whether that's housing insecurity, job loss, chronic illness, losing and inheritance and the safety net you had, or the death of a loved one and the income they provided to your househol. Its also about money as a tool for your personal and the collective well being. Sonya Renee Taylor and Tracy McMillan's stories in particular shifted something for me in terms of the safety, security, and community money can allow for. I saw myself in a number of a stories and there were some so different from anything i had imagined and all valuable. I had my heart broken over and over again and my beliefs challenged. I can't wait to recommend this to my women and wealth-building group and every woman I know.
August 3, 2022
An eye opening book to the aspects of finances. This book powerfully covers the good, bad and ugly of how to handles money while growing up and learning from past mistakes. While some stories told us what it was like and what it is like now, I feel like its a one size fits all book.
There are stories of women who came from nothing and created a life beyond their wildest dreams, to women who watched their families make it or struggle. I found the piece meal sized stories to help understand or help put into perspective other situations that may come up in life or for that matter for my children.
I think if I would have know this was a book of stories written on account of personal experiences from now until 5 decades ago, I may have passed on it. I will though pass this on to other women I know who are interested in these kind of reads in hopes they can learn something new and positively apply it to their lives or someone else.
There are stories of women who came from nothing and created a life beyond their wildest dreams, to women who watched their families make it or struggle. I found the piece meal sized stories to help understand or help put into perspective other situations that may come up in life or for that matter for my children.
I think if I would have know this was a book of stories written on account of personal experiences from now until 5 decades ago, I may have passed on it. I will though pass this on to other women I know who are interested in these kind of reads in hopes they can learn something new and positively apply it to their lives or someone else.
April 13, 2022
An excellent examination of the sexist, socio-economic biases and structural impediments built into our bonkers capitalist system that bedevil women. This is such a valuable read, full of perspectives and experiences from many different contributors who recount their struggles and their current work for gender equity work. Rebecca Walker has done an excellent job compiling them. How do I feel about Alice Walker, her mother, having the foreword to this book? Not great, as now for always her great gifts as a writer, activist and Black woman will be mitigated by her unapologetically anti-semitic views. That made me wince as I began a collection of essays about finance, but the other writers do not deserve that baggage, so I did my best to put it out of my mind. Fortunately their work is so excellent I succeeded but Walker Senior's presence might give another reader even more pause.
July 8, 2023
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I got this book, but this is not a financial advice book.
What this book does instead is lay out in all the infinite ways through personal experience what money in our culture can do or not do. Sonya Renee Taylor talked about the shame she has around money and the personal story that went with that. The email exchange from the Frasier-Joneses explaining their situation to their daughters college financial aid. Neela Vaswani describing the years when her husband had leukemia.
It’s haunting. All of it is further evidence to me about how our society is trapping people. This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about women’s experiences regarding capitalism.
What this book does instead is lay out in all the infinite ways through personal experience what money in our culture can do or not do. Sonya Renee Taylor talked about the shame she has around money and the personal story that went with that. The email exchange from the Frasier-Joneses explaining their situation to their daughters college financial aid. Neela Vaswani describing the years when her husband had leukemia.
It’s haunting. All of it is further evidence to me about how our society is trapping people. This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about women’s experiences regarding capitalism.
September 5, 2022
This collection of essays opens the door to better understanding what can create the feelings that influence our behaviours with money. More than anything, this is to create clarity and transparency. It’s amazing how that lifts something off my shoulders that I did not know was there.
The book inevitably lead me to curiosity of my own experiences with money in my upbringing and in present days.
I highly recommend this book to consider limitations of the current systems and redefine your own relationship with money.
The book inevitably lead me to curiosity of my own experiences with money in my upbringing and in present days.
I highly recommend this book to consider limitations of the current systems and redefine your own relationship with money.
January 10, 2023
I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked up this book at a local library. As someone who has read many a finance book and works in investment for a living, I found this book to be refreshingly honest in its approach towards wealth (spiritual, familial, physical) and how it affects the lives of women. An anti-racist and feminist book, this is one of my must reads for anyone considering what role all forms of "wealth" play in women's lives.
September 3, 2025
Most of the authors were privileged white women complaining about times when they had “financial hardships” i.e. they lost a couple thousand dollars trying to invest in their own personal comforts. The worst short story was about a woman upset about how her foster child was taken away from her to be given to the biological mother. I did not understand how this related to the topic at large. Donated this one away so fast
June 19, 2022
This book contains 29 stories/essays by women about their life/financial stories. This book far exceeded any expectations I might have set. Each of these stories is beautifully crafted and is full of reality and emotion. I could not help but be moved as I read each of them. This is a book I will pull off the shelf and read again. An eye opening read! I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.
August 27, 2022
This book is interesting as it is a compilation of short stories, or passages by different women authors. Every story is connected to money, either explicitly or implicitly. Not all of the stories particularly stood out to me, but the ones that did such as 'The Price of Fabulousness', 'Sharks in the Banya' and 'How to Make a Lot of Money' were beautifully written and impactful.
May 23, 2023
Incredible read...honest, raw, real talk about money in short essays that take you so in depth to each writers experience. This is a must read book for all women. Also, the inclusion in this book is top notch, with awareness and acknowledgement brought to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and immigrant communities. I am so glad my book club put this book on my radar!! Thank you Napa Bookmine!!
June 24, 2022
Brilliant. Rebecca Walker obviously took enormous care choosing the essays in this book. Not only are the authors diverse in all ways, but their stories and perspectives represent so many different layers and facets regarding money AND OUR LIVES.
July 5, 2022
This book is really about everything, since money touches everything. I enjoyed about half the essays.
July 16, 2022
incredible
Every essay was worth the price of admission. Collectively worth its weight in gold. Taught me about others and myself.
Every essay was worth the price of admission. Collectively worth its weight in gold. Taught me about others and myself.
Read
July 22, 2022DNF. maybe next time
August 23, 2022
A few of these essays were amazing but overall I found myself skimming the others.
This is a very important topic and the essay by McMillan was terrific.
This is a very important topic and the essay by McMillan was terrific.
August 28, 2022
A diverse and fascinating anthology, with essays authored by women from so many different backgrounds exploring what money has meant and currently means to them.
November 1, 2022
Already left review. Not my type of book pf women accounting for their financial troubles
December 24, 2022
There were some *very* uncomfortable to read essays in this anthology and I am so glad I read them.
January 20, 2023
loveeee essay compilation books and each essay caught my interest highly recc
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews