A new children’s book, Fairer Tales: Princesses Doing it for Themselves is hoping to help tackle the financial gender gap by showing that women can achieve their goals independently.
Award-winning author Emma Dodd has reimagined the tales of three beloved fairy tale heroines, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel who use their own acumen and skills to realise their happily-ever-afters rather than waiting on Prince Charming to save the day.
In the book, published by HSBC UK, rather than attending the ball in her uncomfortable glass slippers with the hope of meeting Prince Charming, Cinderella makes and wears her own snazzy trainers, going on to launch her own shoe design business, Rapunzel cuts off her own hair to use as a rope and escape the castle – which she then rents out to Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella – and while the traditional Sleeping Beauty waits to be woken up and saved with a kiss by a handsome prince, the new book sees her save all her pocket money so that when she wakes, her savings have grown.
Laverne Antrobus, psychologist on ‘The Secret Life of 4 and 5-year-olds’, consulted on the book and said: “From early childhood, gender stereotyping through popular culture and the stories we tell our children plays a key role in shaping attitudes towards key issues such as finance.
Ensuring that both boys and girls can see empowered female characters is important in building confidence and understanding of what girls can achieve independently.”
The book can be downloaded now as a free e-Book or audio book from hsbc.co.uk/savings/financial-education