She's On The Money - Menstruating is hard. Period.

Episode Date: March 30, 2021

Periods. They’re something half of the population will have to deal with at some stage of their lives, but what do they actually cost and why do we have to spend money on them at all? Today the girls get into the nitty gritty, unpacking the price of periods, why sustainable options are a great call not only for our wallets but for the planet and we chat through the societal pressures that see women spending more on non-essentials items.Keen to know more about why cleaning products are a dangerous waste of money? See Kin’s brilliant article here.Do you love the podcast SICK and want more SOTM? Course ya do. Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and DEFINITELY subscribe to our newsletter https://www.shesonthemoney.com.au/newsletter the written recap of the pod's key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won't want to miss.Finally, if you're in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we've got you sorted - simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast!The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. While the period tax was finally abolished a couple of years ago now, those of us who bleed are still having to shell out a lot of coin when it comes that time of the month so how can we reduce the impact of sanitary products on our wallets as well as the planet and should we even have to pay for these items in the first place my name is georgia king i'm a copywriter and journalism student and joining me to help answer these questions is financial advisor

slash author miss victoria divine person who bleeds victoria right v straight into it yeah but i've also never been introduced as that so i'm just gonna start as an author as a person who bleeds oh both i think that's here we go ticking off the firsts today ticking off the first love it equal is important as one another let's get into it though v how much are we actually paying for sanitary items the answer is too much georgia king far far too much in fact i did some research before this and there was a study out of the UK that was done a couple of years ago because turns out there hasn't been one done in Australia this study involved 2,000 women now I'm not gonna lie we have more than that many people in our community and I would argue that we

could get bigger numbers than that and arguably become the biggest female study in Australia I'm just saying like I keep talking about more data more collective data like how do we have an impact you know how we have an impact we start jumping up and down and actually use our voices for good so yeah maybe we do that but back to the survey that somebody else did they found that we are spending just shy of 20 australian per month on period products like tampons and pads which over the course of a lifetime of bleeding we've assumed here that that's between the ages of 12 and 52 that equates to $9,379 Georgia that's a lot that's a car that's a car that's a car that's an investment portfolio that is in my vagina like what yeah anyway I'm not gonna lie that does sound

exorbitant when you add it up but it does sound about right to me I would say some of us are going to spend more than that some of us less but the point is having your period it's not cheap don't come cheap no they don't which absolutely sucks because they are absolutely not the most pleasant thing to go through each month so adding an expense on top of something that we already need to do adds I guess another blow well it's like a double blow it's like a double blow like kick me while I'm down my friend exactly right but at the end of the day these products are essential for people who bleed and it's not an option for you to just not buy them unfortunately now let's contextualize that a little bit because this is a money podcast obviously we said before that

$9,379 on average is what we're spending on period products throughout our life. Hypothetically, George. Talk to me. We like stats. We like to know what that would look like in investment world. Yes. That's who I am. If we'd invested that upfront, let's call it around $10,000. If you had that upfront, which not many of us do at the very start of our period, we're 12 years old. So probably not reasonable. You would have invested over 40 years. That's the period of time that you have your period $198,000 Georgia that's nearly $200,000 if you'd invested 10 grand and we're spending it on pads and tampons but let's be really realistic for a hot second because at the end of the day like it's not like you get your period and people like oh my gosh here's 10 grand

to spend on all of your period products that you need for the rest of your life we start shelling out about 20 bucks your parent or your guardian might be paying for them at the very start of that journey and then you know it becomes your thing but let's say if you were putting that 20 bucks away every single month instead of having it at the start you'd still end up with a sixty thousand dollar investment portfolio nothing to be sneezed at no absolutely not but don't sneeze period it's not a good time don't do that not a good time that was a good one thank you it wasn't even a joke it's legit don't think well it is things will happen one out of ten do not recommend now as i mentioned at the top there guys the 10 tax aussies were paying for these products

was scrapped a couple of years ago money win i think that was like it was a very long time coming but also can you imagine if the fellas had to pay tax on an essential item like that i think the tax would have been abolished a very long time ago existed in the first place let's put that aside though i mean i'm not gonna get up in arms and say oh my gosh well why isn't there a tax on condoms what i guess people could argue that's a shared cost yeah but oh yeah i would say that's we'll get to that we're actually going to talk about contraception a little later on in the pace juicy but ultimately to have on with the kids in the car exactly today in fact you know what i reckon it is let's talk about this stuff let's make it normal exactly right 100 carry on

jota so my my question is do you think we're still paying too much for these products i would say yes because there are businesses that are absolutely profiting off it and I think that you know the government should be stepping in and either regulating it or providing a base level of these sanitary items on the surface it doesn't seem like that much money but I think that we need to acknowledge that there's an immense amount of privilege that comes with that way of thinking and saying oh well 20 bucks a month isn't much like it's actually we are so lucky to be able to say that now we know that in Australia there are actually a significant number of people experiencing homelessness and people who bleed often have left extremely difficult home lives

where they've been in domestic or financial abusive situations and when you're on the street sanitary products aren't a priority because you just don't have that 20 bucks to spend a month on those things and that's where amazing organizations like our friends that share the dignity come in and these guys are working to end period poverty which I adore like how special is that like that's a base need like we deserve that at a minimum requirement and they believe as we obviously do as well that period products are a right not a privilege and that no person should ever have to be choosing between period products or a meal and our friends at Modibodi who are actually today's show partners also do really really well in this space and they have their

give a pair program which is aimed at ending period poverty as well so for every pair of period undies a Modibodi customer buys, a percentage of that fee goes towards providing products directly into the hands of women in need. And at the moment, they've donated more than 23,000 pairs of Modibodi undies. That's amazing. That's actually so cool. And the idea that it's reusable as well becomes a little bit more sustainable for people who do experience period poverty. Now, that's also another level of privilege that I don't think was spoken about before and one I actually got deep into conversation with with someone once because someone said to me well why don't you just give everybody period cups and be done with it and that's assuming that we

have safe and clean spaces to change those period that can be a whole hygiene that's a whole hygiene exactly whole health and hygiene issue that we hadn't covered and I think that for us to go okay well that's great you just change it in the shower that again is not a privilege that is extended to everybody in our community at this point in time so I think that disposable sanitary products as much as so many of us are advocating towards moving towards them and absolutely nothing against our sponsor of today's show like you and I have been loving these products recently because we're in the situation where this works for our lifestyle yeah but I don't see disposable sanitary products going anywhere soon hopefully because they're actually a service and a product that

is really useful especially to people who are bleeding and homeless and can't get access to these things yeah well how how very lucky are we that we don't have to think twice about paying for these products 100% and I think I say that all the time and I'm really genuine when I say that I'm really grateful for these things and I think that you know as a community we seem to have cultivated this mindset of being grateful for the small things because the small things they're not that small in the grand scheme of things they are the big things that matter and I think that yeah we're really lucky and I will always continue to keep talking about gratefulness and being lucky and being thankful for the situation we're in because we are really lucky but let's wrap it

back up to where we were before Georgia the point I'm really trying to drive home here is that it is wild that we pay what we do for these products and ultimately I think there should be much greater access to the essentials than there currently is and period products just shouldn't be something that women hesitate to buy because of the price like that's not something any of us should experience no and no one should have to choose between eating and uh like their hygiene it's it's really sad um which is why I'm really glad that we're talking about it and that we're working with Modibodi who are doing such great work in this space it's yeah it's really encouraging okay so extending this beyond just periods fee are there any other things you'd flag as being

a little unfair when it comes to being a person who bleeds absolutely and there's so many and we're about to have a chat about them and this episode was actually really hard to bring together wasn't it g well there's a lot going on yeah like we sat down and we were like what do we want to talk about this week like we really want to talk about the real cost of periods but then so much happened and then our entire office ended up in a debate about the gender pay gap and how it wasn't fair but how do we amend it and it was it was really fun there were boys and girls involved in this as well wasn't just you and i having a bit of a band in the library but at the end of day contraception often also falls into the hands of being the female's responsibility and I'm sure

a lot of people would agree and that can actually be really expensive the pill condoms IUDs marinas even the morning after pill none of these options ever come cheaply and I genuinely believe that we should be sharing that load with our partner so that we aren't paying ridiculous amounts because at the end of the day isn't it about shared responsibility I don't know about you Georgia but like I did attend sex ed at school I did talk to my mum who taught me a lot sometimes more than I wanted to hear at the time but from what I've heard actually takes two to tango did you know that what I know when it comes to pregnancy and STIs it's actually not just you and not just me like you have to come together to do it so why isn't that a shared responsible cost it's really

weird isn't it yeah I just I I get where it's come from like I can understand the underlying reason why women take this responsibility on themselves but my friends it is 2021 cough up for half my pill or half my marina I don't even have my marina anymore got that taken out that was expensive that was good but also it's kind of an ordeal like just beyond the payment of these things like marinas that's quite invasive IUDs invasive the pill messes with your hormones like totally was and I'm really open about talking about these things obviously in the office everybody knows about my contraception of choice and that was for a very long time the marina until I had some issues with it and in the last few weeks I've had to have that removed now I'm

back on the old trusty pill what a dream but in saying that I was really lucky that I had access to private health care which made my marina really cheap so over the course of five years my marina actually only cost me georgia a total of 32 to have in that's crazy 32 for five years worth of contraception that is cheaper than the 80 i pay for three months for three months supply yeah and that's where i'm at at the moment yeah because i'm just not quite ready to have a marina yeah put in again because it is really invasive but at the end of the day at that point i thought that that was a really good option for me but after five years i needed to get it out anyway beyond contraception and talking about victoria divine's bodily functions there is also everything we

covered in the pink tax episode georgia all of those simple things that are marketed towards women that have prices jacked up like razors plain t-shirts pens perfume literally everything we covered that can we also categorize general body maintenance into this absolutely like there's so much more pressure on us to maintain all of those superficial things that most men don't actually spend any money on and these things can actually be really expensive when you break down a beauty routine like I don't want someone to come in and break down my beauty routine it's spenno georgia it is spenno and that's not something I think girls can own as being something they want wholly like I guess I'm trying to say that that is very much an external pressure

whether that's been internalized or not yeah it's totally an internalized pressure and we were having this conversation in the office before and someone from our office Georgia was actually saying like um sorry I don't care if you guys wear makeup or shave your legs like that doesn't worry me at all and he was genuine like I know he wasn't just saying that because that's just the kind of guy he is he's like you do it for you great but we internalize that and even though I know I don't have to shave my legs I still do like I feel good I feel nice but like if I break that down even further it probably comes back to some internalized stuff about wanting to be feminine or who knows like it's kind of sad when you start to break it down that these differences actually exist and

they're inherently ingrained in us as opposed to going like oh hey gee I see that you are wax your arms oh yeah cool well I dye my arm hairs pink like it's not just a choice that you make you're doing that for those reasons yeah I don't know it kind of makes me sad the more that you get into it so let's move on from the beauty part and talk about that good old thing the agenda pay gap which is still very very much a thing and definitely something that we should be talking about more on she's on the money yeah because I think that so many people just don't understand what the gender pay gap actually is and how it works now I'm not saying that everyone that's listening is silly but we are talking like for like jobs we aren't saying like oh on average men get paid

more than women yes absolutely they do and they do because at the end of the day more men are taking higher roles that's another issue on itself but at the end of the day like for like jobs women on average georgia in 2021 are earning 13.4 percent less than men which equals 242 dollars per week that's crazy that is crazy that's insane so the average full-time income for females in 2021 is $1,562 and for men it's $1,804 they don't even have to buy pads how rude exactly how rude and to just further that the disparity is widened further for women of color and non-binary people which we don't even have good comprehensive data about which is offensive in itself and that pisses me off that we haven't actually segregated that even further so that we can further understand

these people again going back to she's on the money surveys like we really should start this and start collecting our data so that we can be really powerful what is your opinion on how we fix that gender pay gap there look i think it is really really hard and coming into covid i think the stats are going to be a bit off for a little while during the gfc we actually saw the gender pay gap widened by 2%, which doesn't sound like much, but it took us 10 years to fix that after the GFC in 2009. So if we're looking at what COVID's impact is over the long-term, like we can't predict that, we don't know what that means, but it is really safe to say that more women work in service-based industries than men do. We're talking like restaurants and retail, et cetera.

and to me I just think it will potentially inevitably increase again which is a bit sad but I think it's just advocating for ourselves putting ourselves in positions where we go you know what this is going to take ages like there is a stat out there that says it's going to take another hundred years for us to be equally paid to men what kid 100 years before we have equal pay I'm not going to be around then arguably my kids aren't even going to be around the world will probably have melted or be underwater anyway. Exactly so I think that if we just leave things the way they are and not put our hands up and start talking about equality and actually advocating for ourselves which arguably we shouldn't have to do it should just be a given

but unfortunately we are so far behind that now it's our turn to be like you know what this isn't actually good enough I want what men get if I do your job I want to be paid exactly what you get paid and I've seen it all too often more recently with friends and people that I know who have recently found out that their male colleagues for exactly the same job are being paid more than $15,000 more than them and arguably my female friend has been in that role for longer and has more responsibility than that person. That's ridiculous. It's rude isn't it? Very rude. And it's really disrespectful and it actually really upsets me because it plays further into looking at big corporate culture and often it is in the big corporates that this happens because usually it's

it's easier to hide because most people don't talk about their salaries or their pays or what they take home and that makes it easier for the company to kind of talk about it but they also have like gender equality committees and talk about all of this but then at the base level they're still not doing the right thing but you best believe they celebrated international women's day yeah get in the bin yeah honestly v you obviously work in a heavily male dominated industry that I do my friend what does the gender pay gap look like for financial advisors and people in the finance industry oh my gosh we were talking about this before so this is definitely something that you've brought up I'm assuming because I was ranting about it yeah now we know

that the finance industry arguably is very male dominated I know it's male dominated most conferences I go to it's rooms of men and a few women I don't know nearly as many female financial advisors as i do male financial advisors also if you're female financial advisor can we be friends like slide into my dance any more advisor friends honestly but the difference in average total remuneration for a female versus a male in the financial and insurance services sector georgia talk to me 27.8 percent no like for like that is a difference or a difference of total average remuneration of $45,487. What the devil? And the next one under that is construction. And that total remuneration differentiation is 26.1%, which is a difference in average

total remuneration of $36,361. Oh my hat. That is a lot of money. That is literally someone's full-time wage in average differences. And just to clarify, that's not because there are fewer women in these industries that's just flat out lack for lack that is flat out lack for lack difference in pay and I think that that's what people start to get confused with I'm not saying that we don't understand it we totally understand it but I'm so sick of getting into these arguments which I get into all the time because it's me and I think Ryan was joking the other day actually Georgia I think you were in the were we in the kiss studios when we're having this joke uh Ryan said her first book's gonna be called she's on the money which is no-brainer because I've just

announced that I'm publishing it but he said my second book is going to be called I'll bite and it's all stories of how Victoria just gets in arguments with people because she just gets up in arms especially about women's issues you're a passionate woman yeah so my next book coming out probably 2022 it's called I'll bite I love anyway yeah yes it is like for like it is absolutely not me saying okay well you know this woman works in administration in finance and we're comparing her to a financial advisor like that is not what's happening we are comparing like for like same job same remuneration or should be same remuneration and just to actually give a little bit more context to that if we look at the gender pay gap in the most heavily female dominated industry

which is health care and social assistance no surprises because everybody in our community is so kind but even in this female dominated industry Georgia the pay gap is 15.7 percent or 16,700 a year what like even in that industry where you know won't get up in arms and jump on my high horse even though i'm like four like i'm probably four horses high now that is a female dominated industry and more often than not and we're not playing into gender stereotypes here but people assume because stereotyping is a thing that women are better at that industry because we're more caring which is bullshit men can do that just as well even then we're underpaid yeah even when more often than not people are overvaluing females in that industry and I'm

not saying that we are overvalued or undervalued I think I'm just really pissed off that this is the case that we aren't being treated as equals and I think that that's the main thing when it comes to this podcast it's talking about having equal opportunity equal rights equal access to things and we're talking about you know obviously the cost of periods but we're already earning less than men and we have more expenses that we actually have to incur whether we like it or not Like, you don't get to be like, oh, hey, this month, I can't really afford it. George, I'm just going to skip my period. You go out for drinks without me.

Like, that's not how it works. Like, we don't have a choice in these things. And that's where this feminist debate comes in as well. Because so often people assume that when you're a feminist, you want to be better than men. No, I just want what they've got. I want to have exactly the same opportunity as every male in my industry. So that if that gets offered to him, it'd be offered to me if I have the same credentials. well that's it right the definition of feminist is actually equal opportunity and equal rights

exactly i just want what other people get access to and i'm not asking for a leg up i'm not asking for anything else i will do all of the qualifications i will do everything necessary but when push comes to shove i want to be afforded exactly the same opportunities as a male all right we will be back after a very short break to chat about the solutions and the ways we can start paying less for our periods but first a message from the partners of today's show all righty guys if you are loving today's period chat you best believe this isn't the only place that we have it is it vicky day oh look it's the only place i've had it today but okay i phrased that incorrectly what i meant to say was we're having conversations about women

and money and equality every single day on our facebook page as well as our instagram page oh yeah yeah so it happens all the time especially in our facebook group there are threads after threads about reusable period products like there are hundreds of comments on these things that's where actually discovered modibodi because our community was like hey these guys are great and i'm like hey who were they so that's kind of cool absolutely it's cool uh so check it out if you are not there already my friends v this is a bit of a sidestep from the cost of a period but i guess we were also sidestepping before so so shoot us we're dancing today i think something that really impacts women is our propensity for shopping and for using after pay so did a little digging me we didn't

want to listen to this podcast today to be attacked by georgia king no hey hey hey it's it's not me just saying it attacked by me georgia back down no judgment here but roy morgan did do some research in this space back in 2019 and they found that women are more likely to use buy now pay later payment services compared to men and that over one in 10 women or 11.6 percent report using a buy now pay later service in the last year compared to only 5.5 percent of men that's double more women in this space than men what i want to ask you v is how much this is impacting our finances and if you think there is an external pressure for us to be maintaining our appearances and keeping up with the trends and 100 the cost of comparison is a real like we are open to so

much more criticism and so much more feedback that we don't even ask for we're having this discussion before in the office again our office is full of rife really good conversations like it's a wonder how we actually get any work done at all but we were even talking about that pressure that exists to have a new dress or outfit whenever you go to an event like boys don't have that they just wear a suit and it's well and good and fun like my partner owns two suits he just like yeah that's the sort of weddings and that's the suit I wear to the more casual weddings and I'm like great, fantastic. Here's my entire wardrobe of dresses. And, you know, I am actually someone who feels very confident wearing a dress again. I feel like I wasn't always that way. I've

definitely embraced it because I'm like, you know what? I bought that dress because I'm going to wear it at every opportunity. And I think that more of us need to embrace that and go, no, no, no. I bought that dress because I feel really good in it. I feel like I look good. It gives me confidence. And if you've got that dress, my friend, wear that until it's worn out and share that with your friends let them wear it wear your friends dresses like there's something really attractive about embracing it instead of going like oh I guess I'll just wear something I've already got wear something you've already got because it looks good on you my friends but I think it's also so interesting how much Instagram culture impacts us and we've spoken about this on

the cost of comparison episode which if you haven't listened to I'd recommend going and having a listen to but it's actually wild how much societal pressure gets put on us and how we feel when we're scrolling through our Instagram feeds and you know Georgie you've spoken to me about this before about you know not really liking Instagram because you just don't like what comes up on your feed 90% of the time which is why you avoid it and we're totally for that I mean I'll I'll be mean to you and tag you in Instagram anyway but I think it's really important to acknowledge that the societal pressure that is placed on women is I would deem completely unreasonable. What do you reckon? Oh, 100%. I agree. I asked the question knowing what you would

say. Did you know the rant I was just about to go on? I knew it word for word. I am like a broken record, but I'm just so sick of everything that is expected of us. And as women, we just deserve better. And it doesn't matter. Like we're talking about the gender pay gap. If you don't want to work, don't work. But we're talking about having equal access to opportunity. We're talking about having the same expectations put on us that are put on the opposite gender to us we're not talking about going oh we want to be you know looked after and have less pressure like I just want what other people get and I want to feel empowered and not like I have to dress up for a work meeting I just don't want to feel like I have to turn up as somebody that maybe I'm not in saying that I am

currently sitting it's 3 p.m and I'm sitting in exercise clothes that I wore to the gym this morning at 6 a.m nobody judges so there's no judgment she's on the money you can be yourself you're in that and I'm wearing a pair of high heels and a pair of white jeans I think someone else in the office is in a full suit because they've got meetings yeah we really embrace the dress for your day mentality exactly right the other day I was chatting to someone v who I won't name on this podcast but I mentioned that we would be having this chat and they were like I just don't support you having that conversation because to me that is creating further animosity between men and women and there's already so much going on as we've seen

in Australia particularly over the last couple of months things are a mess why make them worse and I was like mate what yeah I was like these conversations are where change starts like look my voice is like breaking you're angry you're as angry as me I like made me really angry and I wanted to bring that to the podcast and see what you had to say about that and I think that that is a really privileged position for a male to sit in because it doesn't impact them exactly it doesn't have any impact and I'm assuming they're males yeah yeah you nailed it um and I'm assuming that that would be a position that they're in where they're not actually able to check their own privilege and see what luxuries their gender has actually afforded them when it comes to

conversations like this but change starts with conversation change starts with a decision being made change isn't silent it is really loud and it yells and it jumps up and down and it rallies and that's why everything that has actually happened for women has had to happen in that way like we couldn't vote how did we vote we jumped up and down about it until it happened we couldn't do so many other things we jump up and down about it until it happens and I think that as much as that is not what should happen it is what happens and I'll yell and scream good yeah like I will not put up with it. There's this idea in the back of my head that one day I'll have a daughter and her gender will be something that holds her back like that really makes me sad and upset and

I feel incredibly privileged to have been brought up by the parents that I've been brought up with because they never let that get in my way and never let me see that or assume that so growing up my mum was always like no like you can do whatever you set your heart to like all you have to do is put your head down and work really hard and that wasn't ever a luxury that was afforded to my mum for example because she grew up in a small town in Tasmania it wasn't through nobody wanting the best for her because everybody wanted the best for her but their mentality was definitely a small town mentality in the middle of Tasmania that definitely wasn't as progressive as what you or I are today Georgia and so what growing up she never wanted me to experience that or you know

have expectations put on me because I am female and that's probably why I'm nearly 30 not married don't have kids and I'm following my passions and I'm really proud of everything that I've done I would say it goes back to my mum being like no you can do whatever you want oh you want to be a rocket scientist let's do it yeah she never made me think anything of it and I genuinely believe that it was only once I got to university that I started to see that gender divide and started to see that oh it's easier for the boys and when I got my grad job I was like oh my gosh it's so much easier for the boys because I wasn't just being brought into meetings where I had you know expertise I had as much expertise as the graduates sitting beside me but the added pressure of me

having to prove myself before people would even listen to me existed and I just hadn't really understood that until I actually got into the workforce and was faced with it when people would make me prove myself yeah and that still exists oh I bet it does and you as a financial advisor who's pretty cute and like wears great clothes but I feel like the boys would be like oh Victoria like she doesn't know anything yeah and you know and it's assumed and I'm not saying that this is a good or a bad thing but I walk into a room when I do have not new clients because I'd never take on clients that treat me like this but historically I'd walk into meetings knowing that the first part of that meeting would be me having to prove my credibility me having to prove my intelligence

and prove that I'm the right person to be in that room with them whereas a male in exactly the same position as me and I'm speaking from experience here I'm not speaking from you know oh the stats say this or that I literally would see men walk into the same meeting and I take them 10 minutes center to take me an hour or days like it's insane how much back and forth I would end up having to have to prove to people that no I'm a right person like people never questioned the boys they'd be like oh hey cool we've got your survey results here and they'd be great and then I'd say exactly the same email to a client and be like hey here's your survey results and they were like oh okay cool could you please just check whether these are right and that is right and where did this

data come from and how did this work and I would have to know everything back to front before I even sent a document to a client because I knew I'd be flooded with questions and I could not comprehend why I was the only one getting questions and then that made me question my capability and my ability to actually perform because I'd be like oh my gosh have I not explained it in the first place yeah I genuinely believe that it was because of my gender not because of anything else because I'm going to be pretty blunt and say I feel like I knew the most out of everyone in my cohort there wow like I studied to a t like they were the ones asking me how to fix things god it's so that really upset me but it really showed me that you know we can

grow up really naive to these gender biases and we can grow up having not experienced them but it does not mean they don't exist and it doesn't mean it won't ever impact us yeah so what would you say the solution to that is just backing yourself more putting yourself out there maybe not being self-deprecating like I am 100% I think it's about having our own backs yeah because if you're not going to have your own back who is going to have your back yeah like you are you and that's kind of all you get in this life and I know that that seems really negative and sad and you know the she's on the money community absolutely has your back and the amount of people that reach out to me like oh I need a hand with xyz I am there I'm here for you but at the

end of the day like you're the one that you go to bed with every night you're the one that you're caring for and you should be grateful for you like you is doing a good job friend girl this has such strong Brene Brown energy and I'm loving it yes I love her she's my vulnerability baby yes but I also just feel awful that on my own podcast I'm like we need to advocate for ourselves more when in reality we shouldn't have to at all but we have to yeah like we don't have another option otherwise it is going to take that hundred years for us to even become equal with men and i just i don't i don't want that i want that now yeah and if you are a fellow listening help your sisters out help push us up advocate for us as well be good allies exactly and i think that

that's what it's about and this extends to you know our lgbtqi plus community they need allies they need people there it's not about you know just saying oh i'm an ally i don't mind like i don't give a shit if you mind talk about it advocate for them stand up for them stand up for everything and what you believe in because at the end of the day if you don't like you're letting the gender bias happen call it out simple as that okay I am going to get us back on track much as I don't want to be on track today I know it's so good but back to the subject of today's episode vaginas yes some of us have them some of us have them some of us don't but a lot of us spend money on cleaning products for our bits which is very Gwyneth Paltrow it's very goopy

the old jade egg shove it up your juts it you know I didn't even know that was a thing the jade egg I didn't even know that was a thing until recently and it's terrifying they got whacked with I think it was a hundred and fifty thousand dollars okay for those of us who don't know what a jade egg is could you just explain well I think I did it's an egg that you stick up your juts and you you but it's made of jade right like it's literally a rock it but it was meant to like cleanse you or something it's an actual joke but at the end of the day we are absolutely not health professionals and we absolutely shouldn't be you know talking about these things but health professionals are going to be with us on this that vaginas they're actually self-cleaning little queens and one thing

i know for sure is that we are not meant to interfere with their natural balance of things down there and usually if you are doing that it's more harmful than good for you well it can be really dangerous can be they're completely unnecessary just labor alone and expensive exactly so all of these like vaginal health care products are necessary and if you're worried about something down there don't head to the woolly's aisle and get a vagina product head to the doctor and talk to them correct there is a really good article on this very subject by kin fertility which I'm going to link into the show notes because that goes into the nitty-gritty of why it's not a good idea.

They're awesome, aren't they? I'm going to try sliding to their DMs. Slide in there. Do you reckon you could work with them too? I like them. Let's work with everyone. Hey, Kin, let's be friends. Now the final thing I wanted to touch on here, V,

is of course the issue of sustainability. That does arise when we talk about disposable hygiene products. Okay, absolutely. What actually happens to our pads and tampons once we finish up with them? Oh my gosh, you are not ready for this. We've already been on our high horses. we're gonna here's more stuff for you guys to be mad about so it is estimated on average that during our lifetime we use between 10 000 and 15 000 pads and tampons and when we're done with them

they end up in landfill and that is a lot of waste for one little person but we also need to consider the packaging our products come in too because they're usually wrapped in plastic and most times these plastics aren't biodegradable and unfortunately these disposable products definitely aren't good for the environment which is exactly why I'm a really big advocate for more sustainable options like period undies and menstrual cups because I'm pretty sure it takes more than 50 years for a pad to start to degrade you're kidding it's disgusting isn't it that is a long time so the pads that I was using when I first got my period They're still kicking around somewhere in the universe.

Did you come to She's On The Money to learn about money or just be disgusted? Well, you've come to the right place for both, my friends. What an episode. Today's been huge. It's been a journey. It's been a journey. It's been a ride.

It didn't go where we expected, but I'm glad about that. I liked it. I liked it too. Come back next week for more rants by Georgia and Victoria who both get angry about women's issues. Exactly right. To wrap up the show, though, periods are really expensive. We can almost guarantee they wouldn't be so expensive

if men had to endure them and investing in alternative. That's actually a really big call. It's so true. But it is so true. It's so true. But also investing in alternative options like cups and undies could be a very good idea, not only for our wallets, but for the planet.

V, I think that is all we have time for today. Can I ask, before you try to usher me off, can I ask a really important question? Yes. Modibodi actually sent us some of their undies to try. did you like them mate i was so excited for my period to come last month and i can confirm they were gorgeous they were and i'm only asking you one because obviously they're sponsors of today's show which is why they have the sponsored segment yeah like they are actually good and they were

really comfy really nice to wear definitely definitely keeping would recommend yeah and ordering more so that we've got more absolutely yeah well that's a couple of that is true the ones that i had were high-waisted which i loved because obviously that time of the month you're very bloated not feeling no comfy slender so comfy i just felt like i was all in i yeah i love thank you for sharing that about you're so welcome i love everyone so just before we actually head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring on the land which we are able to learn together

we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness and remember guys that the advice shared on cheese on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances cheese on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision and we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds Management, Proprietary Limited, ABN 34132463257, AFSL 339151. And a big thank you to Ryan John and the team of audio engineers for putting together today's podcast. Absolute legends. Now it wouldn't be the end of a She's On The Money podcast unless we directed you straight into our Facebook group.

So if you haven't joined us yet, our community shares money tips and tricks every single day free of judgment. So She's On The Money on Facebook and join us. If Facebook's not your think or else on instagram we're kind of cool on instagram post memes and stuff that's what the cool hip kids do absolutely also we've got a book so use the link in our show notes to order your pre-coffee today thank you so much for listening guys and we will see you on friday bye guys