HOW WILL YOUR STORY BE WRITTEN?
Though fully occupied by the rush of careers and responsibilities, women of means are nonetheless devoting ever more time, talent and treasure to fueling change. “The big shift today is that women have so much more money and therefore more of a voice,” says Lee Hausner, a long-time family wealth consultant. “Women are now inheritors in families that were once sexist. They have MBAs and art and philosophy degrees. They’re investment pros and attorneys. They’re educated in the financial community.” With developing resources, women are focusing on the future, weighing actions, options and priorities. As Hausner puts it: “Fifty or sixty years from now, what would you like to say about your family and dreams. If you want your family close, productive, accepting diversity, making a difference in the world, then what are you going to do now to get you there?”
The stories about women becoming committed to a bigger purpose, to building something that will outlive them, are surfacing frequently as boomer women consider what’s next. These are altogether contemporary legacies, on a scale without previous precedent or model. The stories are ongoing and often revised, so the full impact is still largely under the radar. Here’s a snapshot of how women are putting their money to work.
“Women demand a high level of perfection and even if we’re close to perfect, we don’t give ourselves enough credit,” says Mae Jemison. She would know.
In 1992, at age 36, Jemison was the first black woman astronaut to blast into space, serving as the Endeavour team’s science specialist. Beforehand, armed with chemical engineering and medical degrees, she served as a Peace Corps doctor in Africa. Nowadays, after a stint of teaching at Dartmouth, Jemison runs her own medical technology research firm. Her heart, and the private foundation she named for her mother, remains committed to scientific literacy. Among other projects, for more than a decade, Jemison has organized and funded The Earth We Share, an annual four-week science camp for youngsters 12 to 16. The kids come from Bermuda, Hong Kong, Ghana, India — all over the world — and work in teams to develop solutions to global problems.
“I’ve learned over the years that you need to make enough money to be part of the conversation,” says Jemison. “But in the end you can’t eat or smell it. Money is a means of exchange for what’s important to you.”