Well, today as we've been reporting here,
it's equal payday.
So it's a symbolic day dedicating
dedicated rather to raise
awareness of the gender pay gap.
Yes, there is still a significant one.
So at the current rate of progress,
the pay gap will not close until
2111 according to the American
Association of University Women.
That is a long time from now.
Ashley Russo joining us with
Wealth management advisor,
you're at tell us the
company that you're with,
Russo Wealth Management at Northwestern.
So wealth management,
so actually equal payday.
It's obviously a big day to
bring awareness to this people.
Women have to work, what,
10 weeks into the year to
make what a man will make at
the beginning of the year?
Yeah, right. Yeah, it's
pretty incredible. So currently the
rate is a woman will earn $0.83 on the
dollar compared to her male counterpart.
I will say that's an improvement.
I do remember years ago we were
talking about 70% of what men make.
So it's getting now over 80%,
but it's not equal.
And I think that's the big thing.
They want to get across that
women deserve equal pay, right?
Yes, yes, we're making progress.
Women are leading consumer spending.
We're dominating higher education.
But we still have a ways to go.
So tell us the problems this
causes when women are getting
significantly less money.
What does this lead to?
What have you noticed? Yeah.
So there's significant financial impacts.
So obviously with less disposable income,
that means less to an emergency fund,
less to a retirement fund.
And women tend to be more risk adverse,
which. We can compound the issue.
So if we learn to invest and
we invest wisely specifically,
we can help close that gap.
So investing is important.
Obviously, that's one of your expertises.
What do you say to women who may suspect
that they're getting paid a lot less?
What are we supposed to do if
that's kind of on their minds?
Yeah. So research is important, right?
So to go into these conversations
with as much confidence as possible.
So understanding what you're asking for,
understanding what the general rates are,
research is a big.
The big point and then in addition,
raising your hand, right,
making sure we're advocating for
ourselves and asking for these
positions, these raises,
why do you think historically
that has not happened?
You know, I think historically,
culturally, you know, women haven't owned,
couldn't own a credit card in their
own name until 1970, right? OK.
So we're making a lot of progress
and we're actually considered the
largest emerging market in the world,
greater than India and China combined.
Today. So we've made a lot of progress,
but certainly there's a lot more to go.
OK
yeah. To think, it wasn't that long ago,
50 years ago. Yeah.
When women could finally get a credit card.
Yeah, that was in the 70s.
I didn't realize it was not.
Yeah. OK. Five decades.
That's all it's been. So OK,
let's talk about some tips for women.
What do you always like to tell women to
do when they go into their workplace,
when they approach their managers? Yeah.
So I think, first of all,
again, speaking up,
asking for what you want is important.
As we mentioned, make sure you research.
What you're asking for.
So you go in there with confidence.
Yeah. In addition, don't give up.
Right? We have to make sure that we
continue to ask for what we want.
And I think an important point is,
instead of going in and saying
why you need the raise,
why do you deserve the raise?
What are you bringing to your team,
to your workplace,
highlighting all the things you do.
Sometimes managers don't
know or see that, right?
So it's OK to say these are the things
I bring to the table every day, OK.
And you have a daughter.
We were talking about this in commercial.
I have a daughter too.
What is kind of the important message?
I know they're still young obviously,
but eventually they're gonna
end up in the workforce.
What do you hope to share with your daughter?
Ohh yeah. It's such a great question.
So for me this is such an important
conversation to honor all the hard
work of the women that came before me.
And then you know,
I do have a 10 month old baby girl
and making sure that I'm advocating
so by the time she's in the workforce
she's got a more level playing field.
The work we do today will
again honor all the hard work.
It helped pave the path for
the generations to come.
A lot of women fought hard
to get us to this point.
There's still more to do, though.
So thank you, Ashley,
for joining us this morning.
Good to get your insight this.
And how do people find you? They get
to the northwestern.
So ashley.rousseau@northwestern.com.
Northwestern Mutual.
Yeah, perfect. Thanks for being on our show.