{"id":1037,"date":"2016-08-15T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=1037"},"modified":"2016-08-15T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T12:00:44","slug":"why-there-are-so-few-senior-women-on-wall-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/blog-posts\/why-there-are-so-few-senior-women-on-wall-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Why There Are So Few Senior Women on Wall Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWhy are there so few women in senior management in the banking and investment industry, also known as Wall Street? In spite of a plethora of diversity committees, women\u2019s leadership programs and retreats, and inclusion training in Wall Street firms for at least the last two decades, the representation of women in senior positions has not changed much. A major investment bank has never had a female CEO, and only 2 percent of hedge fund managers are women.\nSam Polk, a former hedge fund trader, explains in an article in the New York Times<\/em><\/a> that the hypermasculine culture of Wall Street firms remain unchanged because \u201cmen rarely do or say anything\u201d to challenge the overt and covert sexism all around them. The pressure to conform and fit in to be promoted is reinforced from day one.\nThe overt sexism that women experience, such as pressure to sleep with bosses, retribution when they don\u2019t, and loss of opportunity after taking maternity leave, is one type of sexism that creates barriers for women, but it is covert sexism that Polk is most concerned with in his article. He explains that \u201cmost of the sexism on Wall Street occurs when women aren\u2019t in the room.\u201d He calls this \u201cbro talk,\u201d where men casually talk about women as sex objects and body parts as a way of bonding with each other. Polk reflects on his own experiences in high school, in college, and as a bond trader on Wall Street where he heard men who were role models\u2014fathers, coaches and bosses\u2014denigrate women. He notes that while he felt uncomfortable hearing and participating in this type of talk, he never said so because \u201cit feels really good to be in the in-crowd.\u201d Protesting would have been \u201cembarrassing and emasculating\u201d and, he admits, bad for his career.\nNow the father of a daughter, Polk regrets his silence and explains, \u201c\u2018Bro talk\u2019 produces a force field of disrespect and exclusion that makes it incredibly difficult for women to ascend the Wall Street ladder. When you create a culture where women are casually torn apart in conversation, how can you ever stomach promoting them or working for them?\u201d He urges men to be allies\u2014to finally bring about change in the Wall Street culture and other organizational cultures they are in, men must insist that women be spoken about with respect. He makes the point that a relationship exists between \u201cbro talk\u201d and the rape and sexual abuse of women and girls. Polk states, \u201cWhen we dehumanize people in conversation, we give permission for them to be degraded in other ways as well. . . . Our silence condones this language.\u201d\nIn another article<\/a> describing the new movie Equity<\/em> about female executives on Wall Street, author Melena Ryzik interviewed women who are currently investment bankers who agree that the culture of hypermasculinity still exists. They detail a number of sexist assumptions and double binds that create barriers for women:\n\n\n