The gender wealth gap goes far beyond wage inequality and is a much more comprehensive framework for understanding a women's financial security over her lifetime. Wealth, the value of assets minus debts, enables women to be economically empowered. While building wealth can be a lifelong process, women, especially women of color, generally have fewer opportunities than men to accumulate wealth.

Our panel discussed the gender and racial wealth gap and community solutions to move towards economic empowerment for women, girls, and families. The conversation centered around findings from the recently commissioned report by The Institute for Women's Policy Research "Assets for Equity: Building Wealth for Women in Central Ohio", the first to look at the gender and racial wealth gap at a local level in Ohio.

We welcomed Christie Angel (President and CEO of YWCA Columbus), Suparna Bhaskaran, Ph.D. (Senior Researcher at The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society), Darrick Hamilton (Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity), and host Kelley Griesmer (President and CEO of The Women's Fund of Central Ohio).

Recorded on April 24, 2019 at the Boat House at Confluence Park in Columbus, Ohio.