Today, the CEO of Ellevest, Sallie Krawcheck, shared a well thought out opinion piece on her LinkedIn with some startling facts about the financial landscape if you're a woman then outlined goals focused on equality in the next decade. Ellevest is an investment firm with the slogan "Invest Like A Woman". Their offerings highlight values that matter to women, social responsibility, impact investing. Their material highlights how women need a catered approach and how Ellevest is here to give it to us.
Thoughts
I think it's pure genius personally. Women do have unique financial needs. Many women have to account for things like gaps in employment due to staying at home with children for a few years early in their careers. These gaps in employment impact long term earnings, social security, and retirement contributions. Women sometimes sacrifice their retirement savings for things that ease the way of their children financially - downpayment assistance, help through college, and so on. In addition to these factors, women also have a longer life expectancy than men, meaning there is a need to stretch their savings over a longer period. Unfortunately, Longer Life + Lower Earnings + Lower Savings = Questionable Future.
The Future
The marketing of Ellevest is clear; this firm is the future of women investing. As the future of women investing and motivated to level the playing field, you'd think they'd be the on the forefront of getting into the markets that offer the aggressive returns necessary. The goals espoused by Sallie are admirable and align with my values; I'd really just like to see Ellevest follow the lead of 20% of traditional investing firms and enter crypto this year. The future of women's investing needs to keep up, and even get ahead of, the future of investing if the intent is to level the playing field.
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The Crypto Landscape
Crypto has typically pulled from two fields with significant under-representation of women - finance and tech. The most valued workers in crypto are founders and developers, which are roles with a similar lack of women in them, even outside of crypto. The numbers vary by who's doing the study and how inclusive they are but they all agree. Women represent a single digit percentage (somewhere between 1.8-8%) of cryptocurrency investors. The most conservative investment in the industry last year, would've been put in Bitcoin. Last year Bitcoin did 19x. Even with a retrace, it's at 10x. There is money to be made and women largely aren't at the table.
What We Can Do
This post is a call to action for women in crypto and those that would like to see more women enter crypto. Encouraging investment in and investing in projects aligned with our values is the biggest thing we can do. There are multiple projects that are led by women, and a select few that have achieved gender parity, like Celsius Network, a P2P lending platform on the blockchain. Traditional Investment firms are making great returns in the industry and we have the opportunity to choose to invest in projects that put our values first and reap the same rewards. Ellevest does this with their Impact Portfolios in traditional markets. Encouraging Ellevest to consider expanding their Impact Portfolios to include companies in the blockchain industry that meet their values could be one way to get the women investing with Ellevest into crypto. Ellevest providing the education and insight necessary for their clients to invest in crypto could help make a dent in both issues - representation of women in crypto and the financial equality issues that Ellevest is positioned to help solve.
I belong to a group on Facebook that is women in crypto Crypto Coin Trader Women's Group that is working on this also. If we all tell the women we know about crypto, provide resources and information, and make sure that the culture of the industry is inclusive, we can't lose.
What do you think can be done to help achieve gender parity in crypto? Upvote and Resteem!
I'm Ash. I have 10 years in tech and 5 in crypto. I write about crypto and tech here on Steemit, teach people about crypto and trading on Cryppick, and tweet about crypto on Twitter. I'm also on LinkedIn and will be guest blogging on a few sites soon!
I think the Crypto Coin Trader Women's Group is a great start. Having a place for women, especially those who are new to crypto, to ask questions and learn in a place they feel comfortable is great. It angers me a lot when sexist comments are made, and I think this will likely put a lot of women off.
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Gaps in employment? Motherhood is real work and needs recognition and support in this society!
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I agree and that's partially why I support UBI, however, as seen by employers, motherhood is not employment. Yes, some cutesy blogs tell you to list the skills used in managing a household on your resume, but realistically if you're not using that time to learn new skills or freelancing, then it isn't employment.
Parenting is one of the most important ways that one can contribute to society, but women are penalized for gaps in employment caused by being mothers on many levels. Career advancement, earnings, even retirement savings and social security contributions are impacted. If we look at mothers who don't take gaps, they're still impacted, as the glass ceiling is lower and stronger when looking at mothers in the workforce. It's unfortunate that women are penalized for something so necessary to society.
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