Illustration for Marketing Maven Column at Enterprise Magazine

Financial institutions still need to refine their product lines as well communication channels with women.

When it comes to investing and making financial decisions, are your female members Panicked Paulas? Blissful Betties? Confident Kates? Are you cringing yet?

These patronizing labels, in a news release last November from TD Financial Group, conjure up caricature images of 1950s women in aprons and high heels, either wringing their hands over the family finances or serenely handing over the cheque book to the head of the household.

In 2008, these labels are insulting. They scream out what women already know and continue to complain about: financial institutions – and many other organizations – still aren’t taking them seriously, despite knowing that women now control 80 percent of consumer expenditures.

by Diane Luckow