The gender pay gap dividing men and women continues to be danced around and peered down. The discussion of gender inequity in earning has been whispered, spoken, and screamed. This conversation should be considered incomplete without including a focus on female investing in the equation. 

If we are serious about women making more, we should be equally serious about women investing more.  This is how women ultimately will have more.

Emboldening women to turn up the volume and increase the frequency of their ask is important.  Let’s make strong negotiation skills second nature. Recognize that we can’t stop there.  This is where “yes and” must come into the strategy for closing the financial gender gap. It behooves us to place equal importance on the scaffolding of investment skills and early education about concepts such as compound interest, diversification, and dollar-cost averaging for young women stepping into the marketplace (and market). Things won’t add up until we do. 

If we truly want to champion women and power, let’s talk more about the financial power and potential that exists for women in the market. Women are leaving serious money on the table outside of their conversations with HR and hiring managers when they treat Wall Street like a boy’s club they can’t belong to. We are perpetuating the biases–implicit and explicit–that are working against women in the arena of finance by colluding with the notion that girls can’t, don’t, or won’t do the market math. 

Ladies, this is not poker night you shouldn’t barge in on.  It is time to stop being so polite, make space at the table (use elbows if necessary), and claim a seat.  As it turns out, women have ample money for the buy in. Grab a cigar while you’re at at (it sure works for Warren).  Show the world what happens when you play like a girl.