Equal Pay Day (EPD) is honored every year to raise awareness about the wage gap, which shows that women, on average, earn about 80 cents for every dollar men earn. The wage gap for women of color is even greater than that of white women. Black women typically make just 63 cents, and Latinas are typically paid just 57 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Equal Pay Day’s actual date fluctuates each year as the wage gap changes, and this year we honor EPD on March 15th. For example, when women and men started working on January 1, 2021, women had to continue to work until March 15, 2022 to earn the same pay as the men who worked until December 31, 2021.

We had the chance to speak with Electives teacher Catie Hogan, a passionate financial literacy advocate, comedy writer, and public speaker. Catie uses humor to teach financial literacy and teaches an Elective titled Financial Feminists.

Q: Where did the inspiration for “Finanical Feminists” come from? What do audiences gain from your financial equity Electives classes? 

Catie: The title came from my passion for empowering women. Feminism is not just for women and finance is not just for men. When women are doing better in society in general, we all do better and there are several studies that show that. I want to stress that these are not segregated issues, and this is not just for women/about women. When women do better, we all do better.

Q: When it comes to financial equity, what have you learned from your own experiences? 

Catie: It can be done in any situation and we need to get over our fear of having the conversation. You need to go into your negotiation prepared! I tell women to write down how they have added value to their organizations and more importantly, and create a list of things you have accomplished both qualitative and quantitative.  Also do some research on the market value of your role. I would start by doing a quick google search to find comparable positions in my location. Collecting as much data as possible and finding a common range is so important. One good place to start is Salary.com. I would also suggest checking out Comparably.com.

As women, a lot of times, we put ourselves last. Mothers with children put everything aside to make them the priority. Women are nurturers and givers which translates into our work and negotiating pay because we don’t want to take more than we think we deserve and that can be a detriment.

Consider what is your stretch goal? Where would you be happy? Justify your stretch with the facts and how you can present that to your employer. To share my own personal story, when I started speaking I didn’t know what to charge, and I took free gigs and what I found very quickly was I could have been charging more! This actually came from another woman in HR telling me to do so and she shared with me what a man was making for the same speaking engagement. Women are also more transparent with one another so leverage that shared identity. Continued efforts to share compensation among coworkers and peers will help women. I recently saw a tweet where a woman leaving a writing job told future candidates what her salary was and to ask for at least that. It may have upset her former employer, but it was a huge help for candidates vying for that role.

Q: What does Equal Pay Day mean to you? How can people take action to work towards financial equity?

Catie: I have this philosophy that money is power. The less money women have in their possession, the less power they have to create the change they want to see. If men can be more transparent with their female colleagues, that will help us achieve equity much faster. Not only will this achieve parity in pay, but power to make larger societal changes.

Women need to be BOLD. A lot of times, we are bold, but not heard. We all have to do our part; it can’t just be women. It will require legislation and companies to care about it. It’s not just the sole responsibility of the group or person who is suffering from this problem.

Q: How do you encourage conversations around financial equity?

Catie: As you consider leaving your workplace or before you quite get there, it is super important to be honest with your current employer. Women have been so disproportionately impacted by the pandemic that the women who are still in the workplace feel more pressure than their male counterparts. Being honest to your employer is so crucial and a reminder that you can’t suffer in silence. If there is a culture problem at your organization, having an open dialogue is so important. If they respond negatively to the conversation, that is a red flag and could be the a-ha moment and sign you need to move on.  If they respond positively there is hope to address the problem (i.e burnout.)

I think these new rules - particularly in the state of Colorado and New York City - where they force employers to post a base salary range for job postings is a great step in the right direction. I'd love to see a day where companies don't shame (or worse) employees for sharing compensation data with their coworkers.

Q: What resources do you recommend to learn more about financial equity?

Catie: Two great resources are my books on The Millennial's Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together and The Get It Together Financial Guide. Ramit Sethi is another great resource, both his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich, and his podcast. He talks to real life couples and you can learn alot from it.

Reading one book or listening to one podcast can go a long way. Taking baby steps to slowly learn the fundamentals of good personal finance habits is completely fine! You don't have to get an advanced degree in economics or finance to feel empowered and in control when it comes to your money.

Glennon Doyle’s, We Can Do Hard Things and the HERmoney podcasts share tools to be able to address a lot of these issues that women face on a daily basis. If you are looking for a few people to follow on social media I suggest delyannethemoneycoach and Rachel Rogers.

Q: Is there anything else you want to share with respect to financial equity?

Catie: There is alot of shame and embarrassment about what you don’t know about money that can affect women. Studies have shown that men tend to be more confident with their money even though they aren’t necessarily doing the right thing with it. There are no stupid questions, the longer you go not asking a question about money becuase you are nervous to look silly, the worse off you are going to be because you are not getting the answers you need. Don’t feel shame or embarrassment, more times than not, everyone else has the same question.

Equal Pay Day (EPD) is honored every year to raise awareness about the wage gap, which shows that women, on average, earn about 80 cents for every dollar men earn. The wage gap for women of color is even greater than that of white women. Black women typically make just 63 cents, and Latinas are typically paid just 57 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Equal Pay Day’s actual date fluctuates each year as the wage gap changes, and this year we honor EPD on March 15th. For example, when women and men started working on January 1, 2021, women had to continue to work until March 15, 2022 to earn the same pay as the men who worked until December 31, 2021.

We had the chance to speak with Electives teacher Catie Hogan, a passionate financial literacy advocate, comedy writer, and public speaker. Catie uses humor to teach financial literacy and teaches an Elective titled Financial Feminists.

Q: Where did the inspiration for “Finanical Feminists” come from? What do audiences gain from your financial equity Electives classes? 
Catie: The title came from my passion for empowering women. Feminism is not just for women and finance is not just for men. When women are doing better in society in general, we all do better and there are several studies that show that. I want to stress that these are not segregated issues, and this is not just for women/about women. When women do better, we all do better.

Q: When it comes to financial equity, what have you learned from your own experiences? 
Catie: It can be done in any situation and we need to get over our fear of having the conversation. You need to go into your negotiation prepared! I tell women to write down how they have added value to their organizations and more importantly, and create a list of things you have accomplished both qualitative and quantitative.  Also do some research on the market value of your role. I would start by doing a quick google search to find comparable positions in my location. Collecting as much data as possible and finding a common range is so important. One good place to start is Salary.com. I would also suggest checking out Comparably.com.

As women, a lot of times, we put ourselves last. Mothers with children put everything aside to make them the priority. Women are nurturers and givers which translates into our work and negotiating pay because we don’t want to take more than we think we deserve and that can be a detriment.

Consider what is your stretch goal? Where would you be happy? Justify your stretch with the facts and how you can present that to your employer. To share my own personal story, when I started speaking I didn’t know what to charge, and I took free gigs and what I found very quickly was I could have been charging more! This actually came from another woman in HR telling me to do so and she shared with me what a man was making for the same speaking engagement. Women are also more transparent with one another so leverage that shared identity. Continued efforts to share compensation among coworkers and peers will help women. I recently saw a tweet where a woman leaving a writing job told future candidates what her salary was and to ask for at least that. It may have upset her former employer, but it was a huge help for candidates vying for that role.

Q: What does Equal Pay Day mean to you? How can people take action to work towards financial equity?
Catie: I have this philosophy that money is power. The less money women have in their possession, the less power they have to create the change they want to see. If men can be more transparent with their female colleagues, that will help us achieve equity much faster. Not only will this achieve parity in pay, but power to make larger societal changes.

Women need to be BOLD. A lot of times, we are bold, but not heard. We all have to do our part; it can’t just be women. It will require legislation and companies to care about it. It’s not just the sole responsibility of the group or person who is suffering from this problem.

Q: How do you encourage conversations around financial equity?
Catie: As you consider leaving your workplace or before you quite get there, it is super important to be honest with your current employer. Women have been so disproportionately impacted by the pandemic that the women who are still in the workplace feel more pressure than their male counterparts. Being honest to your employer is so crucial and a reminder that you can’t suffer in silence. If there is a culture problem at your organization, having an open dialogue is so important. If they respond negatively to the conversation, that is a red flag and could be the a-ha moment and sign you need to move on.  If they respond positively there is hope to address the problem (i.e burnout.)

I think these new rules - particularly in the state of Colorado and New York City - where they force employers to post a base salary range for job postings is a great step in the right direction. I'd love to see a day where companies don't shame (or worse) employees for sharing compensation data with their coworkers.

Q: What resources do you recommend to learn more about financial equity?
Catie: Two great resources are my books on The Millennial's Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together and The Get It Together Financial Guide. Ramit Sethi is another great resource, both his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich, and his podcast. He talks to real life couples and you can learn alot from it.

Reading one book or listening to one podcast can go a long way. Taking baby steps to slowly learn the fundamentals of good personal finance habits is completely fine! You don't have to get an advanced degree in economics or finance to feel empowered and in control when it comes to your money.

Glennon Doyle’s, We Can Do Hard Things and the HERmoney podcasts share tools to be able to address a lot of these issues that women face on a daily basis. If you are looking for a few people to follow on social media I suggest delyannethemoneycoach and Rachel Rogers.

Q: Is there anything else you want to share with respect to financial equity?
Catie: There is alot of shame and embarrassment about what you don’t know about money that can affect women. Studies have shown that men tend to be more confident with their money even though they aren’t necessarily doing the right thing with it. There are no stupid questions, the longer you go not asking a question about money becuase you are nervous to look silly, the worse off you are going to be because you are not getting the answers you need. Don’t feel shame or embarrassment, more times than not, everyone else has the same question.

Explore Financial Literacy & Negotiation Electives 

Catie Hogan shares the importance of financial equity & financial wellness for women in the workplace and highlights what Equal Pay Day means to her.

Meet Electives Teacher Catie Hogan, the Financial Feminist: Expert on Financial Equity and Financial Wellness

Mon Mar 14 2022

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