Why Womxn Talk Money?
Written by Madeline Pratt
Before I go any further, let me start by saying that Womxn is pronounced just like the traditional spelling “Women”. You can read about why we spell it that way here. But what I am writing this to offer you up what Womxn Talk Money about and why it needed to exist.
I am the kind of person that when I see a problem that I know I can solve, I’m going to have a hard time not jumping in and doing something about it. I’m a big believer in taking action, especially if you’ve got experience, data & support on your side. Womxn Talk Money exists because I saw a problem, and I knew my team and I could solve it.
It also helps to start by saying that I am a big believer that representation matters. I, for one, know that the primary reason I believed I could start a successful company because I watched my mom do it as I grew up. I believe some times we really need to see something in order to believe it, or in other instances in order to change it.
In June of 2016, I was attending an accounting industry conference, and I stumbled across some deep unconscious bias in action. Waiting for a breakout session to begin, a casual conversation was sparked between me and some fellow attendees about the visible absence of female speakers at the event, despite the fact that attendance was majority female. Overhearing our conversation, a (female) employee of the event organizer interjected and insisted that this was because it was “so hard to find women of mainstage caliber”.
I was shocked but I wasn’t surprised by this excuse. Misogyny works in mysterious ways. I was a little furious, particularly because I was sitting in the midst of mainstage caliber women. But once the moment passed, I brushed it off and moved on.
Fast forward to May of 2019, and my Twitter DMs blowing up with women outraged at another prominent industry conference hosting and promoting all-white male panel discussions featuring topics as important as “The Future of the Profession”. In the post-me-too era, these women were officially engaged, and we decided together that time was up on “Manels” (aka an all-white male panel) and on the event organizer’s half-hearted excuse that “they couldn’t find more female speakers”.
Three years later, and not much had changed. That was when I realized nothing was going to unless someone did something about it. I wanted to do more than just call someone out and spark a heated debate on Twitter. I wanted to take action.
After reflecting on the problem, I believe that change can only come about by taking a two-pronged approach by viewing the lack of female speakers at industry events as a problem to be solved both bottom-up and top-down. Solving it from the bottom up means addressing the pipeline problem by nurturing and encouraging more women to speak up and own the conference stage. This approach has lead us to begin creating online classes and an upcoming workshop to help women get comfortable with speaking out and sharing their stories.
From the top down side of the house, this means making sure that event organizers change their line ups and their line of excuses by compiling a comprehensive list of qualified and confident female speakers. It was from this idea that Women Talk Money was born.
With the help of Sara Keats, Women Talk Money has compiled a list of over 100 incredible and talented female speakers from around the world that are experts in areas of accounting, personal finance, and Fintech. Inspired by the likes of other directories like Women Talk Design we have created a global directory of these women for conference organizers to draw & call upon when creating their speaking line ups. It is our sincere belief that by creating this resource, we will dispell the idea that female speakers are hard to find, uplift & encourage women to share their stories, and change the conversation about female speakers in the world of finance.
There is another deeper goal of the project that is equally important to myself & my team, which has to do with the name of the brand. We fundamentally believe that by talking more about money, women can empower themselves & others, and fundamentally change their financial futures. We are deeply passionate about continuing & expanding the financial conversation among women and have big visions for the future of this network of women.
