Angela Mollard: Female victims of eyelash economy must prioritise future wealth

Women need to prioritise their future, not so much their eyelashes, because as L’Oreal says, you’re worth it, writes Angela Mollard.

Girls (and boys if you’re so inclined), we need to talk about eyelashes.

Now don’t think I’m critiquing you because I’m not. I get it, those extensions look lovely, opening up your eyes and accentuating your face but do you know what I see?

I see your credit card bill. I see your superannuation balance looking woefully low. Sometimes I picture you aged 50 and living in your car.

I don’t say this because I think you’re vain or self-indulgent or because you have your priorities wrong. Rather, I say it because I can no longer listen to reports about the gender pay gap and the superannuation divide and the growing homelessness of women in later life. Social and economic factors may combine to reduce a woman’s earning capacity but there’s another issue we never talk about and it’s time we did.

Jane Stabler gets some eye lash extensions by Charlotte Creasey. Picture: Chris Pavlich

The fact is, we are victims of what I’ll call the eyelash economy and on top of the systemic inequalities outlined above it’s leaving us impoverished.

Unlike men, women have been seduced for decades to buy stuff we don’t need with money we don’t have and I can no longer stand by and let my daughters fall for it.

It’s all very well talking about financial literacy but if we don’t challenge the eyelash economy – the lunatic notion that women should spend up big on handbags and clothes and manicures and facials and health spas – then we can bang on all we like about compound interest but we won’t change a thing.

While men are getting by on pair of boardshorts and a single suit – as evidenced by Karl Stefanovic wearing the same one for a year on Today – and therefore stuffing their money into shares and property, women are being taught that it’s an “investment” to buy a designer handbag, or it’s “self-care” to drink $25 cocktails or drop $15,000 on breast augmentation. No, what is self-care is getting the best job you can and making your money work for you so that you have financial agency, power, choice, self-satisfaction and peace of mind knowing you can take care of you.

AUSTRALIAN ECONOMICS

Only 48 per cent of Australian women are financially literate compared with 63 per cent of men. That clearly needs our attention because if you choose a lower earning job, take time off for child-raising, retire with less superannuation and live longer than men then, I’m sorry, but you can’t wait for society to change; you have to change what you can.

And that’s where it gets exciting. Because there’s a kicker – you can have your eyelashes as well as a retirement swanning around the French Riviera. But you need to get your head round it now. As in yesterday.

Kate Moss once said that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. I take issue with her claim because, well, cinnamon rolls but it’s an idea worth repurposing.

Those eyelashes? Yep, I’m betting that no amount of mink hair gluing and infilling looks as good as financial power feels – especially when it buys you the security of your own home or a trip to Antarctica to see icebergs.

So where do we start?

First, we take that appalling 51-year-old L’Oreal catchphrase – “because you’re worth it” – and we laugh hard at it.

It wasn’t an empowering invitation for women to treat themselves; rather it was a cynical, profit-driven and emotionally manipulative ruse to dupe them into believing their lives would be better if they used this cream or tweaked this part of themselves.

These companies which commercialised self-worth weren’t just endorsing self-care, they were stoking insecurity.

Grievously, unforgivably, no one was selling this rubbish to men.

Angela Mollard doesn’t believe “self-care” is spending $25 on cocktails.

Only 48 per cent of woman are financially literate as opposed to 68 per cent of men.

But we can refuse to buy into it. The discrepancies in pay, superannuation and the sharing of childcare and domestic duties is being fought via legislation and social change. But the eyelash economy which, frankly, is a self-imposed tax on womanhood has to be challenged by all of us.

By harnessing the same force that once charged feminism, we need to fight the notion that our faces, our bodies and our wardrobes need constant maintenance and improvement.

Now before you call me a hypocrite because I have highlights in my hair, I’ve done a cost-benefit analysis. It looks like this: “Yes, I can have those highlights because I really like them but what if I saved $5K a year by foregoing eyelash extensions, manicures, espresso martinis, Botox, designer handbags and acai bowls and invested it.” Even if you only did it for 10 years, between the ages of 15 and 25, then stopped, according to my colleague Scott Pape you’d likely have around $2.7 million by the time you hit 60.

Now is the time for women to set themselvesu p for financial success. Picture: David Caird

What’s more, it’s never been a better time to chart your own course. Excessive herd-style grooming as modelled by the Kardashians is so last decade.

For all its faults, social media has also democratised how women look. Abbie Chatfield happily posts pictures without make-up and champions body neutrality; Mia Freedman uploads regular makeup and tweakment-free “Instababbles”.

So pay $100 for your eyelash extensions if that’s your thing. But take care of your future as if your life depended on it. Because it does. And you’re worth it.

ANGELA LOVES

Books

Rebecca Humphries is a British actor who was cheated on by her comedian boyfriend. Her memoir, Why Did You Stay, is hilarious, compelling, empowering and oh so smart. Listen to the audio book for her fabulous voice.

Warm breakfasts

Chop up an apple, a pear and a few prunes and heat in a saucepan with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some orange zest. Top with yoghurt and nuts.

Holiday workouts

50 squats, 20 push ups and 20 sit ups done three times will maintain some fitness while you’re away.

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