"Women With a Voice": Nadine Jürgensen, Lawyer, Journalist, and Entrepreneur.

We spoke to Nadine Jürgensen about what financial dependence does to women and how she uses her voice to shake things up and be part of the solution for more gender equality.

ABOUT NADINE

Nadine Jürgensen is a Swiss lawyer, journalist, and entrepreneur – and one of the country's most influential voices for gender equality.

Trained as a lawyer, she worked as a domestic-affairs editor at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and has written widely as a columnist, including for the «Magazin» of the Tages-Anzeiger.

She is the co-founder of ellexx, a financial platform for women dedicated to closing the gender pay and pension gaps.

Nadine has also co-founded WE/MEN, a movement for gender equality, is a sought-after speaker, and a frequently cited expert on pension and financial matters.

OUR QUESTIONS

What’s the most important issue or cause that compels you to raise your voice?

Money is the last frontier of equality. That's not just a slogan – it's a verifiable reality. 56 percent of women in Switzerland cannot financially support themselves. Women here were only allowed to open a bank account without their husband's signature in 1988. That's not ancient history – it affects our mothers, our sisters, many of us personally.

I've worked as a lawyer and witnessed countless divorces. I've seen what financial dependence does to women. It diminishes them. It makes them vulnerable. That's what drives me. And that's why I won't stop until women participate equally in financial markets, in boardrooms, and in politics.

Can you share a moment when speaking up made a real difference?

When I started writing about gender gaps and women's poverty in old age, I was often told: "Nobody cares about this. Women don't want to talk about money." I kept going anyway – as an NZZ editor, as a columnist, as a lawyer.

I'll be honest: there were moments when I doubted myself. When I wondered whether I was fighting a battle that was simply too big, too deeply ingrained. But then a woman would write to me – "Dear Ms. Jürgensen, I just can't seem to get ahead" – and I'd remember exactly why this matters.

When ellexx launched, I knew within weeks: the need is enormous. Tens of thousands of women reached out. Women who had been sitting alone with these questions for years. The moment I understood that my voice could not only shake things up but actually be part of the solution – that changed everything. Because raising your voice alone isn't enough. You have to build something too. Today we are Switzerland’s leading financial platform for women.

What challenges have you faced when speaking up?

You're not taken seriously. As a woman speaking about money and equality, you're fighting on two fronts at once: against the cliché of the "hysterical feminist" and against the assumption that women have no instinct for finance. I learned to answer with facts where others come with opinions. Numbers are hard to argue with.

What helped me? Clarity about why I do this. And allies who are equally convinced. You can't sustain this alone. Together with our whole team we built one of the largest female finance communities in Switzerland. That creates momentum. And it's the best answer to everyone who said nobody needed this.

What outfit makes you feel the most powerful?

A suit. Without question. I stand on a stage, in front of a microphone, sometimes before hundreds of people – and I want my clothes to say what I mean: I am here. I am taking up space. I mean this.

A suit is not a costume, and it's not a surrender to male-dominated dress codes. It's a statement: I am prepared, I am competent, and I'm not going anywhere. Wearing my LUKKA suit feels exactly like that. Swiss made, sustainable, designed with women in mind.

Thank you, Nadine.

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Nadine wears:

CREATOR Blazer & ADVOCAT Trousers in mocha