What can actually be done on women's financial discrimination

The stereotypical problems with women and money, that womenh are too emotionally attached, can’t save or aren’t willing to take the risk of investment, aren’t true, according to a Slate article.

Being paid less than men, treated differently by financial advisers, and generally spending less than men in miscellaneous spending is true, according to a Gallup survey. Men spend $11 more per day on average than women.

But what can be done about it?

Rather than trying to change the 77 cents per dollar that women make compared to men, figures from 2010, Helaine Olen, writer of the Slate article, suggests the financial services industry give women what they say they want.

Female investors were most concerned with financial assistance that included low and transparent fees, clear explanations of products and advice and no sales pressure, according to a study by a market research firm called Hearts & Wallets.

In 2009, 70 percent of women complained about subpar treatment from financial professionals including “being talked to like an infant” to assumptions that the male half of a couple was the financial decision-maker, according to a Gallup study.

EMAIL: alovell@deseretnews.com