If you read this newsletter regularly, you know that getting more money (and thus more power) in the hands of women is why we started Ellevest. So you won’t be surprised to hear that three news stories got us pretty fired up last week. Three stories that, at their core, all had to do with how society takes power away from women by taking money away from women.

#freebritney, aka ultimate example of a woman being deemed “not good with money”

Last week, Britney Spears, whose net worth is $60 million, requested that her father, who has controlled her finances for the last 13 years, be removed as a conservator. Britney gave a powerful testimony in which she shared that her father often threatened to keep her money away from her if she didn’t fall in line. (She wasn’t even allowed to carry her own credit card.) And let’s not forget the money she’s estimated to have lost — it’s in the millions — while her father was in charge of her money.

OK, now is the time to do some deep breathing.

As you may now know, the judge denied her request. Britney speaking out reminded women everywhere that being in control of your own money means being in control of your own life. That, and that money is always more than just money. It’s power and freedom. And that when we lack control of our money — whether through legal action, like with Britney, or thanks to imposter syndrome caused by society telling us that we’re “bad with money” — we are denied control of our futures.