What It Was Like to Be a Woman at Goldman Sachs

[marmar]

from the Atlantic:


What It Was Like to Be a Woman at Goldman Sachs
By Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Nov 26 2012, 9:32 AM ET

A female former employee describes working in "a frat on steroids."


Goldman Sachs has released its annual list of promotions to partner and managing director, and, not unusual for them, women represented only 14 percent of inductees into the highly lucrative lifetime partner positions. Jordan Weissmann's recent post here at The Atlantic, "Why Don't More Women Get Promoted at Goldman Sachs?" examined research by economists that sought to explain societal reasons why women in business don't make as much as their male peers. According to this research, Weissmann reported, children are largely responsible for the gap: "family obligations were in fact a huge part of the reason why females have so much trouble climbing the elite corporate ladder."

But Forbes's Helaine Olen raised another possibility: Perhaps Goldman (and other banks) discriminate against their female employees either overtly, through promotions, or through fomenting an atmosphere that makes it harder for women to do their jobs. Weissmann updated his post to acknowledge this possibility, noting that the gender discrimination case against Goldman is making its way through the courts as we speak.

In the go-go 1990s, I worked at Goldman Sachs. It was my second job out of college, one where I hoped to leverage my honors economics degree from Brown and make enough money to support my career as an aspiring writer. Unlike many of my Ivy League peers, I wasn't a rainmaker in the middle of the action. I worked as an editor in the Equity Research department—basically a disposable position that could be (and was) filled by any number of English majors who could pick up financial lingo. We were cogs in the wheels of Goldman's award-winning research department, where analysts made investment predictions in their specific industries (e.g., mining, pharmaceuticals, retail stores, etc.) and stock recommendations—buy, sell, hold—while we editors made sure all their quotes were grammatical and that they followed a prearranged style set both by the house and by industry journals such as Institutional Investor. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/11/what-it-was-like-to-be-a-woman-at-goldman-sachs/265572/

[niyad]

1. the mommy track strikes again. women don't make as much because they take care of children.

what in the hell does that say about our society--there is no such thing as the daddy track, because, after all, men don't need to bother their heads about their families. I have been waiting for this to change my whole life--sadly, does not look like it ever will. a presidential candidate in 2012 can say, "yes, she has flex time so she can go home at 5 and fix dinner" and isn't booed off the stage.

[Fridays Child]

2. If they want to send the message that women should be "mommying"...

...then mommies should be paid. Unfortunately, caring for others is neither properly compensated nor even properly acknowledged for its critical importance in our economic system.

[niyad]

4. you are absolutely correct

[mike_c]

5. bingo....

eom

[Squinch]

3. I spent 4 horrified months at a brokerage house years ago. This article was so accurate I'm afraid

the nightmares might come back.

[Brigid]

6. You know the old saying:

The reason women don't rise as high in business as men do is that women don't have wives.