Financial Independence: Gateway to security, solitude and superior lifestyle

Shweta Bachchan needs no introduction, but it gets tough to recognise her without mentioning that she is the daughter of Mr Amitabh Bacchhan and Jaya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan’s sister. Shweta has worked as a professional model, writer, novelist and businesswoman. In her recent interaction with a news portal, Shweta stressed the importance of being financially independent and revealed what kind of life she wants her kids to pursue.

Mother of two – Navya Naveli (She) and Agastya (He) – while Navya is busy running her own venture, Agastya is set to make his acting debut in the Netflix feature The Archies next year. In a recent interview with ETimes, Shweta said, “Unfortunately, I am not financially independent, and I am not particularly an ambitious person, and I make no bones about it. But that is not what I would want for my child. I want my daughter, especially, to have financial security, and I think it will give her tremendous confidence if it’s something she’s done on her own rather than using her father’s money.”

To understand the gravity of financial dependence for women in society, The Quotes spoke to three women who have been flagbearers in their respective work and overcame every possible challenge and asked them to share their thoughts on the subject. Their views are as follows-:

A judicial officer (On request of anonymity)-: In modern times and age, if a married woman is not financially independent, she would not have any decision-making power, to the extent that women are not even consulted on matters relating to education and otherwise of children. They cannot even take decisions about themselves which leads to frustration, and over a period of time, women get into depression as well when they are made to feel that they are of no consequence to the family.

Captain, Mayuri Deshmukh (India’s first woman offshore captain)-: Financial independence is the ultimate feeling of security. It’s not the end all, but it’s the beginning of securing for yourself the terms you want to live life on, the balances you want to create personally.

Jyoti Rathee, senior program manager at Sahyog Care For You-: Financial dependence puts girls at enormous risk in society. While working in the community, I have witnessed girls being forced to darker shades of society, by the fringe elements. A large part of society has deliberately pressed girls and demotivated them against financial independence. But society will attain the right balance only when girls/women have equal opportunities.