ITEM The U. S. Census Bureau finds that women who are heads of households have a net worth that is HI percent of the net worth of men who are heads of households.14
(The value of the net worth statistic is that it allows us to see what he and she have left when their different liabhties are subtracted from the different assets. The womens average net worth ts $13,885; the men’s is $9,883. This is because although male heads of households have higher gross incomes and assets, they have much higher spending obligations. They are much more likely to support wives (or ex-wives) than wives are to support them and thus their income is divided among themselves, a wife, and children — not only for food and housing but for tuition, insurance, vacations. Divorces often mean the woman receives the home the man pays for and also gets custody of the children the man pays for. A woman’s obligation to spend more time with the children leaves her earning less and the man earning more but paying out more.)
ITEM Among the wealthiest 1.6 percent of the U. S. population (those with assets of $500,000 or more), women’s net worth is more than men’s.15
How can so many of the wealthiest people be women when women hold none of the top corporate jobs? In part, by selecting the men who do and outliving them. And in part by having greater spending power and lower spending power obligations. . .