Contact: Jenni Brockman
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Girls' Schools Prepare Students for Financial Responsibility

Tappahannock, VA (October 14, 2000) - The statistics are startling. Women live seven to nine years longer than men, yet 55% of female workers aged 18 to 64 have no retirement plan. Many also have little education or experience in managing their own finances. As a result, a divorce or the death of a spouse can be economically devastating for some women. Others may not achieve the success of which they are capable.

Money management is a growing concern for high school graduates across the nation. National statistics, however, indicate that girls' school graduates are more likely to be better prepared to meet the financial challenges that lie ahead.

Graduates of girls' schools, however, are likely to be better prepared to meet money management challenges, said Monecia H. Naggs, assistant head for development at St. Margaret's School.

"Girls' schools play a unique role in equipping girls for financial responsibility. At SMS, it's all part of our mission, 'educating young women for life,'" she said. "For example, our students learn how to develop budgets and raise funds for class projects, manage their allowances and play the "Stock Market Game' in eighth grade civics."

Naggs, Headmistress Margaret R. Broad and Business Manager Nancy Smith recently returned from a national conference, "Girls, Women and Money." Naggs and Broad moderated sessions on the psychology of philanthropy and on teaching girls to be media-savvy consumers, respectively. The event drew more than 500 participants, speakers, exhibitors and reporters to hear presentations from independent school educators and financial professionals.

Conference attendees learned that it's important for girls and women to be "economically literate" because eight in ten women will manage their own money at some point during their lives. In addition:

Amazon.com lists more than 200 books on women and money, but 1,200 on weight loss and 1,600 on dating.

Girls aged 12 to 17 earn an average hourly wage of $5.50 compared to $5.75 for boys.

Girls spend $37 billion annually on clothing, beauty, jewelry and entertainment.

In 1996, girls between 15 and 17 were twice as likely as boys to have a credit card, and one and a half times more likely to have a checking or savings account and a bank card.

"Girls, Women and Money" was sponsored by the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, a leading advocate for girls' education that represents 99 independent and public girls' schools nationwide. St. Margaret's is an NCGS member and its headmistress, Margaret R. Broad, serves as the coalition's vice president.

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