Speaking at a conference aimed at stopping violence against women recently was Kevin Rudd. Think what you want about Rudd, but if there is one thing he is fair dinkum about it’s his stance on the issue of violence against women. Since before he became PM, he has been an advocate pushing to get men to take a pledge never to be violent or accept it in any way towards women. At this conference there were many women attending from Pacific island nations, places that have seen their fair share of violence against women over many years. A lot of the problems in these areas have come about partly through womens’ status in society.

Generally speaking, the poorer the people, the lower down the chain the women and girls are. Many women in poorer countries are not able to achieve the same levels of income as men and it’s not because they lack the intelligence, business skills or desire to get ahead. All too often it is about opportunity.

Rudd said something at this event that I have seen evidence of time and time again in Australia – “It doesn’t matter what country we’re talking about across the world, women are better savers than men.” Kevin said it was due to the women being the carers of children, but I have seen the same situation with Australian women who don’t have kids. Maybe the real reason lies in women being smarter than men. Not when it comes to reading maps of course. Men will always be better than women at such important tasks, which is undoubtedly an evolutionary thing from when we hunted for the meat. We needed to know how to get to the animals, kill them then get back without getting lost. So we men will always have that over you women. Or, at least we’ll have it over women who don’t have a GPS. Bugger you Tomtom.

I guess the fact that women are better with money than men means there is more pressure on women (especially mums) to take a leading role in the family’s finances. I don’t mean women need to take over, it’s always better for a couple to work as a team, particularly when it comes to money. But, ladies, it does mean that if your other half is pretty crap with sorting out the dollars and cents it’s up to you to set him on the straight and narrow. This assumes of course that you are pretty good with money yourself.

If you’re not, don’t panic. Just remember that if you haven’t learnt to be a good money manager, it is in your genetic make up to be one naturally. You just need the right info. Your man is depending on you!

Ps If you want to start saving money, here’s a great tip – you don’t need to buy a GPS. Your man will know how to get wherever you need to go.