Money Talks, and She’s Finally Got a Mic

In many parts of the world, when a woman embarks on the path of marriage, she doesn't just leave with memories: she leaves with gold. Layered glittering necklaces, clinking bangles, heirloom rings shyly yet courageously tucked in velvet pouches. These pieces are more than decorative ornaments for festivities or special occasions; they are quiet echoes of security, legacy, and power. While this particular example originates in South Asia, women worldwide, whether from developed or developing nations, have carried jewelry that serves as an unofficial bank account; an asset they can rely on in times of crisis, reinvention, or control.

For centuries, women have navigated this economically embroidered world with limited access to wealth, credit, and financial autonomy. So, they found other ways, through inheritance, female-centric economies, or communal lending circles. Women have always held wealth, even when they were not allowed to build it openly.

Even today, despite our hyper-intellectual awareness of socio-economic barriers to balancing the gender ratio, it is not uncommon to stumble upon small-talk conversations about men (or ‘alpha males’) pretending that they were personally consulted as the research team for ‘The Wolf of the Wall Street’. The world of finance was built by men, using tools such as impossibly gibberish and exaggerated vocabulary words that tend to scare anyone who wants to delve into basic finance, especially women.

In 1960s North America, a woman could not obtain a credit card without a husband or male breadwinner. In several parts of the world today, women still need a male guarantor for a loan. For centuries, women's financial power has been unfairly filtered through the lens of men and patriarchal institutions.

Statistically, from the research derived from the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)], in most countries even now, women still have significantly lower rates of financial literacy than men¹. It is imperative that we start identifying the disadvantages that women have faced in the realm of finance, ever since the beginning of time. Female role models, skill-building that emphasizes on women’s fiscal knowledge, along with a quilt of shared stories is the need of the hour.

When money has universally symbolized a sense of fear and control for women, how does one suddenly learn to wield it? From gold bangles to investing in funds that were once stereotyped as being categorical to solely men in black suits who shook hands, women are now beginning to tell money narratives that don't just glitter, but stand out and make a difference.

Here is where aara enters the stage: our mission is to dismantle the silence that has often been a barrier to the financial literacy women deserve. There is a certain system that is at play when women are considered in the holistic picture, ranging from money psychology to being able to leave situations freely without needing to think twice about any strings tying them to the same. The guilt you feel after buying a $7.50 oat milk banana bread matcha latte? That is patriarchy, not poor budgeting. Go get that sweet treat, girl!

Today, financial literacy is no longer a privilege; it is a tool for liberation. By creating intentional, supportive spaces, aara is helping women unlearn shame, ask better questions, and pass down a generational heritage that isn't just sparkling, but knowledgeable. Because the next generation of women deserve more than jewelry in embossed velvet boxes with ribbon packaging: they deserve access, confidence, and the ability to shape the future on their own terms.