Stuewe: Women beware, risk of debt is high

Women 40% more likely to declare bankruptcy than men

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By Liz Stuewe

Monday, February 26, 2007

Life is complicated for students at the University of Kansas. We have to deal with family, work, friends, relationships and, on top of all, school. However, I’m here to tell you one more thing you need to be worried about: your finances.

This is especially important for all the women on campus. According to Jackie Regales in the article “Banking on Women”: “The number of American women who will file for bankruptcy this year is greater than the number who will have a heart attack, be diagnosed with cancer or graduate from college,.” Take all the women, all over the country graduating from college in 2007, put them together and there are still more women who will become legally broke this year. All of us are at risk for such problems.

Why is this? The number of women filing for bankruptcy rises because of many things, including our culture of mass consumption, overuse of credit cards and lack of proper financial education. There is something strikingly wrong when women are “40 percent more likely to be poor than men.”

This is a huge problem. Thankfully education is a powerful tool to combat this problem. There are some easy things we can do to improve our own knowledge of the financial world as KU students. Try reading one of Suze Orman’s books such as the bestseller “The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke” or checking out the Web site mymoney.gov, created by the federal government to improve financial literacy.

And we can’t focus simply on ourselves. We need to extend our knowledge beyond the University. We need more economic and financial information for all children in our public schools. There are simple things that can be taught to students from kindergarten all the way though college that can help all students — not just women — become savvy with their money. This education must include the recongnition that this is a problem, particularly for women, and involve a solution designed to benefit everyone.

Like most great problems, the solution starts with individual action. Men and women alike should make it a priority to be knowledgeable about money before they start careers.

Stuewe is a Lawrence junior in political science and American studies.

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