"Money buys me the ability to say no. It enables me to choose what I say yes to," said Shaili Chopra, founder of SheThePeople TV, a feminist website, at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday, December 4. Participating in a panel discussion on 'On My Own: Feminism and Finance', she said that financial freedom was feminism because it helped a woman take charge of her own life.
On the same panel, Shrayana Bhattacharya, economist and author of Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh said that money was a pleasure. She added, "Money gives you the ability to buy what you want to do with your time, which is a luxury that most women in this country do not have. It makes us think about how women have or do not have the power to spend the money they are earning."
Anukrti Upadhyay, an investment banker turned writer, said that money meant different things for men and women. She said, "For men, it often means power. But for women, it means freedom and security. It means having a place of your own or even a room of your own. For women, money is the freedom to express ourselves." Speaking about how most women have the power to make money but not the agency to enjoy it, business journalist and writer Meghna Pant said having an income was emancipating for women.
Aruna Nambiar, writer and former banker, said that economic freedom came from a position of privilege. She mentioned how women from a weaker socio-economic background might earn more than their husbands but might not be able to spend it as they saw fit because a significant amount of it would go into daily expenses.
The panel further discussed how women spending on luxury products or splurging are seen as 'frivolous' and has a negative connotation, a perspective that society needed to move away from. Shrayana Bhattacharya mentioned how women paid more taxes in the form of 'pink tax' (price discrepancies where products and services sold to women are priced higher than similar products sold to men) despite not earning as much as men. Adding to the discussion, Meghna Pant also mentioned that women needed to actively save a part of their income that nobody knew about (especially men) so that it could help them get out of an abusive marriage or leave a job.