WOMEN MONEY POWER

If you’ve ever given a thought to the economy, any thought really, it may have occurred to you that the financial sector is replete with white men and bereft of women. Women only hold 15% of executive roles in finance and 25% of finance faculty positions at top business schools. Baby steps of progress might have been declared in 2023 when the number of women finally overtook the number of men named John, who were Fortune 500 CEOs, 41 to 23. But that victory rings a little less brightly when compared to the 34 Fortune 500 CEOs named David. For reference, approximately 3.27% of men in the United States are named John, and 1.1% are named David. Meanwhile, according to the latest census data, women make up 50.9% of the population.

With these stats in mind, one might wonder, WTF?!?!?!?

Or, more politely, why?

That’s the question I dive into with Josie Cox, financial journalist, broadcaster, and author of Women Money Power, The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality.

Rather than an economic treatise full of dry facts and figures, Cox employs the richness of her journalistic background to tell the very human story of progress and backlash as they are experienced by women in their own lives.

From heiress Katharine Dexter McCormick, who smuggled diaphragms into the US by sewing them into the lining of her couture Parisian capes, to Rosie the Riveters churning out 57 bombers during WWII to the female trailblazers on Wall Street, Cox uncovers the power structures holding women back from their full economic potential while laying out a path of how we can walk together toward financial parity.

Called “a necessary and riveting read” by former NYT gender director Francesca Donner and “A vigorous, often inspiring account of women’s quests for economic equality” by Kirkus Review, Women Money Power is as artfully written as it is excellently researched. And it’s a must read for anyone curious about economic equality - and the lack thereof - in America.

Women Money Power is also the next book in The Female Body Politic Book Club, open to all paid subscribers. Use this link to receive 20% off your annual subscription and join a growing community of thoughtful, dedicated women from all walks of life.