While women often shoulder social and family pressures silently, their financial well-being may be quietly suffering as they prioritise others over their own savings and stability, raising concerns about long-term resilience.
Many women have long been praised for coping, but the habit of always carrying everyone else can come with a quieter financial cost. Lulama Mrara, regional manager at Old Mutual Personal Finance, told The Citizen that being resilient is valuable, yet constantly having to absorb pressure can leave women postponing their own needs, delaying savings and missing chances to build a stronger cushion for the future.
That pattern is often reinforced by family roles and social expectations. In The Citizen’s reporting, one woman described a mother who rarely said no, while another spoke about a fiancée who always made sure her child was provided for before thinking about herself. Psychology Today has also argued that women are often conditioned to treat self-sacrifice as a virtue, even when it leads to guilt around expressing personal needs or setting limits.
Old Mutual’s latest Savings and Investment Monitor suggests the strain is already visible. The survey found that 56% of women worry about debt, compared with 46% of men, while 63% of women said they have side hustles or multiple jobs, above the 56% recorded for men. That points to a generation of women not only feeling financial pressure, but actively trying to work their way out of it through extra income.
Mrara said that kind of resourcefulness can become a real advantage if it is tied to a broader plan. The issue is not whether women can keep coping, but whether they are building something durable as they do so. Psychology Today has noted that people-pleasing, perfectionism and fear of conflict can make boundaries harder to hold, yet that same problem-solving instinct can be redirected towards budgeting, emergency savings and long-term protection. The key question, Mrara suggested, is whether life would still hold together if the coping stopped tomorrow.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
