Founded in 2016 by career coach Claire Wasserman, Ladies Get Paid aims to give women the tools to rise in the workplace, and to see more diversity in leadership in every industry. A primarily online resource, Ladies Get Paid seeks to combat the issues facing women in the current economic climate by connecting women worldwide and giving them the tools to advocate for themselves effectively in the workplace.
The gender pay gap and the gender parity in positions above middle-management are staggering for a world that is more aware of social issues than ever before. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Pay Gap Report 2018 calculates that, on a worldwide average, women are still paid 32% less than men, and in a previous catch-up with Ethos, Wasserman herself notes that “women are the majority of college graduates in the US but less than 22% of them are making it past middle management”. These figures are even more disappointing when WEF also reports that the progress towards equality in both of these fields is moving extremely slowly, making women’s economic issues appear sidelined despite the ever-growing awareness of it.
Ladies Get Paid wants to fight this head-on. In the face of this inequality, Wasserman asked herself, “how can an individual change something that’s so systemic and overwhelming?”: Ladies Get Paid is her answer. With online access to educational webinars, podcasts, and a community of 40,000+ women from across the globe, Wasserman’s platform offers tools for all women to further themselves professionally and personally. With the webinars addressing issues from how to Define your Stellar Skill Set, to entrepreneurial advice on How to Crowdfund, these resources seek to encourage all women to know and show their worth, no matter their background or current situation.
A prime example of the impact of Ladies Get Paid’s resources is congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Ladies Get Paid member turned politician. According to the history of congressmen before her, Ocasio-Cortez proclaimed “women like me aren’t supposed to run for office”, yet she did. In the workplace, as history once again demonstrates, women aren’t supposed to be in power, or make noise, or demand equal pay, and a pay that demonstrates their value. Ladies Get Paid wants to change this. Its network operates on the basis of women lifting each other up, creating a support system for women to be able to talk candidly about the issues they face, to know they are not alone. This, paired with the resources offered online and in Town Halls across the US, gives women a platform from which to build themselves up in their workspaces and demonstrate their value.
The impact of Ladies Get Paid is demonstrated in stories like that of Ocasio-Cortez. Once women are supported to know their worth, even in a society that tries to keep them quiet, there is no limit to what they can achieve when they have a strong community like this supporting them. These successful women, supported by the values of Ladies Get Paid, can give back to the community that supported them. Through this support system, women can fight for themselves, fight for other women, and help speed the process towards gender equality.