Women and planning for the future: fear the unknown

I am increasingly frustrated by women who pay little attention to the family finances.  Time after time, women tell me "my husband handles all of that".  Every time I hear that phrase, it takes me back to a conversation that I had years ago with a family member.  She and I both got married in our 20's and began having children around the same time a few years later.  In one of our regular phone conversations about nothing important, she remarked that I seemed to know a lot about money for a woman.  "Why don't you?" was my response.  "My husband takes care of all of that," she replied.  At this point I began asking questions, with every response making me cringe more and more.  She didn't know anything about her family finances.  She didn't know what they were saving for retirement, what her husband's actual salary was, or whether they even had life insurance.  "God forbid, what if something ever happens to him?", I implored.  "What would you do if your husband was not around to manage the money? How would you even get by when you can't even figure out which bank your savings account is in?" 

Fast forward several years.  I wish I had been more convincing during that conversation.  Suddenly, without any warning, that same woman's passed away.  He was only in his 30's.  She was left with 3 young children, a mortgage, cars, and bills.  This woman, who had until this point never even had to balance a checkbook for the duration of her marriage, was now in the position of family CEO.  The first months were a complete disaster for her.  Not only was she dealing with her grief over the loss of her husband and trying to comfort her children, who were now without a father, but she also had to try to figure out how to keep the lights turned on, learn how to access funds so the kids could have lunch money, and attempt to get her own credit card.  (Yes, because her husband was the primary card holder on their joint cards, the cards were immediately canceled by the card companies when he passed away and she was left without a credit card temporarily.)  In short, a terrible situation was made even worse due to the lack of financial understanding and involvement of this woman.  You never know what can happen in the future, and she is living proof.  Wake up and pay attention, ladies.