The changing culture of women's finances: 'Let’s remove the stigma around money and ambition'

The historical roots of women and money

PayPal makes shopping online easier, Zippay, an in-app, account-to-account payment method used by Irish banks was recently introduced, and Splitwise lets you divvy up bills with friends. Then, there are the ‘buy now, pay later’ credit options like Klarna and Humm, which allow you to add to cart on the digital never-never.

It is easy to forget that for Irish women, financial freedom wasn’t always something they could take for granted. For a long time, legal and cultural barriers heavily restricted women’s freedom in a number of ways, which included a lack of property rights and access to financial independence.

As recently as the 1970s, women working in the public service had to give up their jobs upon marriage; the expectation was their husband would shoulder the finances while they raised the family. Removing women from the workforce was a waste of their abilities, and it also placed them in a poorer financial position.

Women generally couldn’t sit on juries, because to do so meant you had to own property. Nor could they receive the children’s allowance payment, as the 1944 legislation that introduced the payment mandated that it be paid to fathers. The status quo remained in place until reforms such as the removal of the marriage bar in 1973, the 1974 Social Welfare Act, the Family Home Protection Act in 1976, and 1977’s Employment Equality Act finally began to move the dial in women’s favour.

Now, in 2026, while there are no legal barriers to women’s rights to own property or ensure their own financial freedom, social and cultural barriers remain.

Current attitudes and investing habits

Fiona Haughey, director of financial planning at Davy, says that women are often left out of conversations about money. “Social conditioning has played a major role,” she says. “Women have often received very different messages about money and investing than men, both at home and in wider society.”

For example, she points to the negative stereotyping around women’s abilities in maths, finance, and investing, which, she says, can have a lasting impact on confidence around money. This starts young, with 2025 data from the Department of Education finding that only 43% of female Leaving Cert students studied another STEM subject outside of biology, compared to 70.3% of males.

“Within households, women are often heavily involved in budgeting and managing day-to-day finances, while longer-term financial planning and investing may be delegated to a partner,” Haughey points out.

“The result is that women can miss out on developing confidence through experience.”

Developing and working your financial muscle is a really important step towards securing your future.

“My experience finds that women tend to be highly motivated by financial independence and security. This often translates into strong savings habits and a thoughtful approach to financial decision-making,” Haughey says.

Appetite for financial risk, whether that’s through investing in stocks and shares or in newer digital assets such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or regulated exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is lower among women.

“Women are typically very focused on outcomes and tend to take financial decisions seriously. The challenge is that this focus on security can sometimes result in holding too much cash and not enough long-term investment assets,” explains Haughey.

The ongoing pay and pension gaps

The gender pay and pension gaps are two more stumbling blocks women have to contend with. In Ireland, the gender pay gap is 9.6% according to the CSO (Central Statistics Office), which means men earn almost 10% per hour more than women do.

Pensions, too, are imbalanced. Recent research from Aviva Life and Pensions estimates that Ireland has a national gender pension gap of 31%. That effectively means women need to work 10 more years to match men’s retirement savings.

“This research highlights four interconnected gaps putting women at a financial disadvantage as they approach retirement,” says Clair Carroll, head of corporate distribution at Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland. Those gaps are pension behaviours, knowledge, advice, and confidence.

“Many women haven’t calculated how many pay days they have left, and it’s hard to feel confident about the income their pension will provide if you don’t know what you have, how it’s invested, or what options are available to you when you retire,” she adds.

There are other blockers to building wealth for women. “These can include career breaks, caring responsibilities, impacts of divorce,” Haughey says. However, there is one bonus to women’s longer lifespan: They disproportionately inherit wealth.

There are other indicators of progress too. “While the glass ceiling is far from shattered, women account for a significant and rising share of the best-paid jobs in Ireland. Women are also making gains in business ownership.”

A Davy analysis of Company Registration Office (CRO) filings for 2024 showed that one fifth of Irish businesses are at least part-owned by women. This is significant, because business owners are the wealthiest category of households in Ireland.

The rise of digital finance voices

With more and more Irish women having money at their disposal, it’s not surprising to see the recent rise of online finance and investing influencers. While we’ve long watched online influencers advising women on how to cut corners, make wholesome family meals on a budget or become savvy savers, this new breed of Instagrammer is very firmly all about how women can build wealth.

This has been the missing piece of the puzzle, and one that Irish-based Instagrammers Carlotta Aringhieri (@onthemoneywithme) and Aoife Healy (@shehasreceipts), are seeking to address.

Aringhieri, who now shares what she’s learned with her followers, says: “My motivation was really personal. At the beginning of this year, I got my pension statement and saw I still had 28 years until retirement. I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to work until I’m 66’. I realised I needed to seriously up my game when it came to my personal finances: Understanding investing, making the most of my pension, and building wealth for my future.”

Healy’s approach to building wealth is deliberately relatable, sharing content around tracking your net worth, high-yield savings accounts and buying a home, for example.

“I think we’ve created this idea that if you’re good with money, you have to say no to everything. I don’t think that’s true. Building wealth isn’t about never buying a coffee out or never taking a holiday.”

Aringhieri thinks women need to take themselves more seriously in money conversations. “There’s this trend around ‘girl math’, which is fun and light,” she says. “I think it quietly removes a bit of agency too. It frames spending decisions as a cute, silly joke rather than something worth genuinely thinking through, and it reinforces the idea that women aren’t expected to be the serious, strategic ones when it comes to money.”

Both agree that financial independence for women simply can’t be understated. “Financial independence gives you options. It gives you the ability to leave a bad job, walk away from an unhealthy relationship, take career risks, start a business, or simply retire with dignity,” says Healy. “To me, wealth isn’t about luxury. It’s about having choices.”

Aringhieri echoes this, saying: “I think financial independence within a relationship isn’t about not trusting your partner; it’s about making sure you always have real options, no matter what happens in life.” Both influencers, while not financial advisers, are keen to underscore the importance of creating key habits around money in order to bank wealth for the future. Those include building an emergency fund, which Healy says should contain three to three-to-six months of essential living expenses.

Understanding your own take-home pay and where it actually goes, and making sure you’re claiming every tax credit you’re entitled to are Aringhieri’s top tips.

“It’s also very important to invest early, even small amounts, and actually engage with your pension, rather than treating it as something automatic. These make a huge difference over time.”

Healy says women should also pay off any high-interest debt, such as credit card balances for example. “It’s one of the best guaranteed returns you’ll ever get.”

When it comes to the content their followers engage with the most, Aringhieri sees a big appetite for content that offers practical information.

“Things like budgeting a real salary in Dublin, or explaining exactly what happens to your pension if you move abroad. I think people respond most to content where they can see themselves directly in the numbers,” she says.

She has created multi-part series around investing and financial literacy, and also discusses her own experiences with money.

“I’ve recently shared that my goal is to become work optional by 50, and I’ll be documenting the actual steps I take to try to get there.”

For Healy, living your life while building a firm financial foundation is a core part of what she offers.

“One of the ideas I talk about is identifying your own spending values,” she says. “Mine are comfort, quality, ease, and growth. For someone else, it might be travel, fitness, and adventure. I think people are much more likely to stick to good financial habits when they actually enjoy the life they’re building.”

That’s the rationale behind her intentional spending-focused series ‘Expensive But Worth It’.

“It performs incredibly well, particularly when I feature Irish brands. I think people are becoming more interested in buying fewer, better things and supporting businesses closer to home.”

While it’s vital for women to develop strong financial habits while they are working, looking to the future shouldn’t be ignored either.

“It’s important to recognise that many women will find themselves solely responsible for their finances at some point in life, whether through choice, divorce, or the loss of a partner,” points out Fiona Haughey. “Having a basic understanding of financial planning and investing provides confidence and optionality when life circumstances change.”

The good news is women are becoming more confident in taking charge of, and managing their financial affairs: “We’re seeing far more women actively seeking financial education, driving the conversations, and being very comfortable asking questions than we did even a few years ago.”

Haughey says that last year, “females made up 31% of clients in our private clients business with joint relationships contributing an additional 19%”. It was the first year in Davy’s history where women were party to more than half of its client relationships, a key milestone. She says that equality of wealth ownership could be a reality by 2040 if the trend continues.

Aoife Healy says women need to start having conversations about their finances. “Let’s remove the stigma around money and ambition in Ireland. The only way we can do that is by talking about it. With friends, with colleagues, with family. That’s how we change the culture.”