If women shut their purses and didn't shop for a day, would the economy notice? Businessweek learned that 85 Broads, a professional women's networking group, was asking its 4,000 plus members not to spend for one day in order to show the gap between women's purchasing power and their under-representation in boardrooms and executive suites. According to Businessweek, the U.S. economy has become increasingly female-driven.

Did you know that women in the U.S. control $3.3 trillion in annual consumer purchases? They make 62 percent of all car purchases? They take more than 50 percent of all business trips? They control more than 50 percent of the personal wealth in this country? 

Unfortunately, women's purchasing power still hasn't translated into economic power. Growing numbers of educated women are entering the workforce, as well as increasing their power and influence. Yet, in a March 2000 Gallop poll, women ranked financial issues as the most pressing personal concern in their lives -- ahead of family, health, time and stress and equal rights. 

In 2002, women made up 46.5 percent of the U.S. Labor force and 50.5 percent of management and professional specialty positions. In 2002, nearly one half of all privately held businesses in the U.S. were either 50 percent owned or majority owned by women, employing 18 million people and generating $2.3 trillion in sales. In 2001, women earned 57.3 percent of all bachelor's degrees in the U.S., 58 percent of all masters, 45 percent of all doctorates and 47 percent of all law degrees. By 2012, women are projected to earn 56.7 oercebt of all advanced degrees in the U.S. By 2010, the number of women in the U.S. labor force will have increased by 10 million, a growth rate almost one third higher than for men. The question is: "Are we there yet?" The answer is a resounding "NO"! 

In politics, women in the U.S. remain woefully underrepresented in our government -- ranking 57th internationally in women's political leadership, behind Slovakia and Burundi. In business, women continue to hold only a small proportion of leadership roles according to Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization for expanding opportunities for women at work. In corporate environments, Catalyst found that women held less than 16 percent of corporate officer positions in Fortune 500 companies, filled less than 10 percent of total line positions associated with profit or loss and revenue-generating responsibilities, and held 13.6 percent of board seats in the Fortune 500 in 2003. 

Catalyst reports that women and men may share equal ambitions and similar advancement strategies within corporate environments during their rise to the top. However, women report enduring a set of cultural barriers to their advancement not experienced by men: gender-based stereotypes, exclusion from informal networks, lack of role models and inhospitable corporate culture.

Women and men use very different strategies to find a balance between work and their personal lives. Women continue to be the primary users of formal reduced work arrangements, which often carry career penalties. For many mothers of young children, the long hours and rigidity of full time work schedules make the career trade-offs of reduced work arrangements difficult but necessary. The career and pay consequences of using reduced work schedules are often very high. Women outnumber men by 2 to 1 in part-time jobs; many lack employer-sponsored benefits and retirement plans.

Women are out of the work force more than men due to pregnancy, childcare and care giving. On average, women spend 10 years away from the workforce versus one year for men. For every year a woman stays out of the workforce, it will take her five years to recover lost income, pension coverage and career advancement. Many women are homemakers who have no entitlements whatsoever. Working mothers may also suffer about a 7 percent hourly wage penalty for motherhood per child among American women, because of some combination of loss of job experience, less productivity at work, tendency to seek lower paying mother-friendly jobs, and employer discrimination against women with children. Shorter work tenure means lower overall earnings, smaller pensions, and reduced Social Security benefits. Because the pension benefit picture is bleak for many women, the majority of older widows end up relying on Social Security benefits as their primary source of income.

Look at life span. Women on average outlive men by about eight years. Seven out 10 baby boomers are expected to outlive their husbands. Many of these women will be widows for 15 to 20 years. Nearly half of women aged 65 and older are widowed. One quarter of these women will be widowed under the age of 45 years. The good news is our longevity; the bad news is we cannot afford it!

The financial impact of living longer and alone is profound. According to the Commission on the Economic Status of Women, the median income for women of all ages living alone in 1998 was $16,406 -- less than two thirds of the median income of men who lived alone. Single parenthood is also on the rise adding to significant declines in the standard of living for custodial mothers versus men immediately in the year following divorce.

Lastly, according to the Administration on Aging, older women are twice as likely as men to live in a nursing home and are more than twice as likely as men to live their retirement years in poverty. They will spend more years and a larger percentage of their lifetime disabled and make up three out of four persons over the age of 65 who receive Supplemental Social Security Income. Especially significant, is that over half of the elderly widows now living in poverty were not in poverty before their husbands died. The picture is even worse for older women in many minority groups.

What can be done to empower women economically? Start at the beginning. Many of us developed our first worldview of money based on household rules when we grew up. No one taught us about money, you just picked up messages about it. When a girl babysits, grown-ups praise her for how well she deals with children. But when a boy mows neighbors' lawns, no one says he's good with lawns; they say he's a budding businessman.
 
I suggest you cease "gender biasing" your conversations about money. Communicate openly about money and values. Money should not be a taboo subject in our society. Like it or not, historically women have relied on men for their financial support, and many have been conditioned to believe that they cannot competently handle money. While this attitude of financial dependency is changing in today's society, it remains a powerful force in America and some nations of the world.

Barbara Stanny, author of "Prince Charming Isn't Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money" and daughter of Richard Block, co-founder of H&R Block, says that dispelling the myth that "Some day our prince will come is the most important decision a woman can ever make." Try to balance the Hollywood industry obsessions with making teenage Cinderella or princess movies, with teaching practical skill development in finances to our daughters. Encourage education institutions to promote financial education to all of our children.

Lastly, please remedy the seven myths of why women fail persistently to achieve financial empowerment and confidence as concluded in a 1998 survey by Oppenheimer Funds with Mount Holyoke College. They are: Money is too complicated for me to understand; I don't have enough money to do anything with; If I take risks with my money, I'll lose everything; I don't have enough time to manage my money; It's selfish to put myself first. I'm supposed to take care of everybody else; If I take charge of my money, I'll antagonize others and might end up alone; Someone else should be taking of all of this for me.
 
Be wise, take responsibility and indulge yourself with good financial resources and education.