With so many articles and books written about “women and money” one may ask the question as to why we have this focus on “women and money” -surely money is gender neutral.

The reality is that despite all the advances women may have made in the workplace, they remain financially vulnerable.

Firstly women still earn less than men, and substantially so. A salary survey by employment portal Careers24 found that although the average salary in South Africa is R 16 586.00 per month, woman earned on average R 13 692 per month while men took home substantially higher amounts with an average salary of R 19 912 per month. Women earn 30% less than men!

This is not necessarily because employers pay women less for the same job, but because women often choose careers in lower paid jobs – often in order to allow them to fulfill their roles as mothers.

Women continue to carry the financial burden of raising children both as single mothers and the fact that they sacrifice career progression to spend time with their children.

The statistics about single mothers released as part of the Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor were shocking if not surprising. Of the mothers interviewed, 56% of them were single mothers. This survey interviewed working households in urban areas so it does not even contain the figures of rural or unemployed women.

Not only is it shocking that more than half of mothers are raising their children alone, but only half receive any financial support from the fathers and of those only 21% receive regular financial assistance they can rely on.

Needless to say for these mothers money is very tight and their main focus is on educating their children, not on their own retirement savings. Education, informal savings such as grocery schemes, and funeral policies are their savings of choice. Unfortunately this is at the sacrifice of their pension fund and medical aid and more than half of single mothers have no provision for retirement. Sixty percent of these women believe, or perhaps only hope, that their children will take care of them in their retirement.

Lynette Nicholson, head of research at Old Mutual created a budget for a single mother earning R15 000 per month with one child and concluded that by the time she had met all her expenses she was left R20 in debt – this is before she could start saving for her own retirement. Yet despite these doom and gloom figures there are women who still manage to save.

At the Sanlam Benchmark Symposium last week where Sanlam presented the results of their retirement survey, they showed interviews with “savings heroes” – people who had managed to save despite their own hardships. One of them was a woman earning just R800 a week who was still managing to save R140 each month into an education policy and a further R140 for her retirement, the message she gave was that “saving is not just for rich people, if you save one day you will be somebody”.

As women we need to take responsibility for our own lives. Surveys in America have shown that one of the reasons women earn less than men is that they do not demand more, we are more accepting and less likely to want to “rock the boat”.

As mothers not only do we pay the price for being perceived as no longer being committed to our careers but we are more interested in whether the company has a crèche and what the maternity leave policy is than in the financial opportunities the company offers. Women tend to be grateful to companies that have a more flexible approach to working time and they are prepared to sacrifice income for that flexibility.

That is not necessarily wrong; it is a choice that mothers make all the time. We often choose different career paths or select to stay at home for a period of time to raise our children. We play an important role in society and we should ignore it; but we do need to start taking financial control.

Negotiate smartly

Men tend to be more confident in their skills and know what they contribute to the organization they work for. Working mothers will often opt for a half-day job but find that they do as much in that time as a full-time employee yet get receive half the pay. Just because you need more flexibility does not mean you cannot get the job done. The more experience and skills you have the more empowered you will be.

Plan for motherhood

We can control our bodies and make choices about becoming a mother. In that choice we need to understand the financial commitment we are making to raise a child as well as the need to put support structures in place to help us raise our children.

In your 20’s maximize your retirement and other savings so that if you want to take time off to raise a child you can afford to contribute less to your retirement savings over that period.

When you decide to start a family discuss both the financial and practical implications with your partner and make sure those responsibilities will be distributed fairly. If you take time out of your career, your partner needs to ensure you are still able to have a savings plan in place for example. You need to make sure you have risk cover in place if you become disabled or seriously ill.

If you decide to have a child without an involved partner you need to illicit the support of family members, think about who will care for your child whilst you are at work. Your “right” to have a child does not take away your responsibility to provide fully for your child.

Have your own plan

Even if you believe your partner will be there for life, the very fact that 56% of mothers surveyed are doing it alone is proof enough that you need to have your own financial plan. Make sure you always have your own bank account and a retirement fund that will take care of you. Never view your retirement fund as a way to fund your income whilst you remain at home.

This article first appeared in City Press