Inspecting the Glass Ceiling

The following editorial was written by a Crimson editor who wishes to remain anonymous.

When I decided to work on Wall Street this summer, I expected and hoped to learn a lot. Not surprisingly, I believed that most of this education would occur in the realm of finance. And while I certainly have learned more about yield curves, maturity dates and bond ratings than I could ever have dreamed, the most eye-opening experiences of the summer have come from observing the workings of the business world itself, the "real world" outside Harvard that awaits (some might say threatens) us upon graduation.

Sure the salaries bankers and traders made are astronomical, the work-hours never end and the office watering hole's beers cost $5, but what shocked me most in this world of the "Masters of the Universe" (to borrow a phrase from Tom Wolfe) was the aura that surrounded all of it. Quite simply, the entire culture displayed a male-dominated character which exceeded anything I had imagined or even believed possible.

I've heard a lot of situations or institutions described as "male-dominated"; sometimes I have adamantly disagreed and at other times been able to see where people were coming from, but, outside of a locker room, I had never really been in a situation which struck me as such. That is, I should say, until I ventured onto the trading floor at an investment bank.

The trading floor is a large room with desks tightly packed all through it and has males sitting elbow to elbow, each with a computer and telephone. It was not only the complete absence of women that by default created a male-dominated culture, but also the atmosphere that said "women stay out." The lack of women was disturbing by itself, but the behavior the men exhibited was worse than I could have imagined.

At the more innocent end of the spectrum was the type of male bonding that might be expected watching Monday Night Football. Conversation was not how people communicated. Rather, one liners, stories and yelling made up the verbal interaction, and high-fives and back-patting on a scale I had not seen since Little League were added at appropriate times. While there is nothing wrong with any of these things--I do not pretend to be anti-high-five-ing--it was so linked with the way the operation ran that I did not see how you could fit in acting differently. But while that clearly made for a situation where a women might feel uncomfortable, it was the dialogue that took place that was appalling.

The type of crude banter that would lead many women to become disgusted and leave a fraternity party was the rule. References were continually made to sex and women as sexual objects, in an extreme I had not heard since high school.

Comments such as "Your wife is left-handed...I know" and jokes like "What did one feminist say to another?" were traded along with bonds, smack dab in the middle of this large communal office. In addition, phrases like "get off you knees" were directed at a salesperson (though gender neutrality doesn't hide much here) trying to gain favor with a particular client. The time women most often came up in conversation was in reference to the women these men were divorcing or divorced from. And if you were lucky, you might hear about pick-up joints with "hot women" who "knew what they were looking for."

Though not an excuse for this type of behavior in a work environment, most of the men were not crude enough to act this way in front of women. But that was not a problem, since there were so few women. Ninety percent of the time, none were within hearing distance. This absence was recognized by many of the traders, and while most did not seem to think about it one way or another, some would joke that it "enabled the men to concentrate." I for one could not see how any one woman could hope to work in that situation and feel comfortable.

The only women found on the floor were traders' assistants who had worked with the guys for years and appeared to be used to the environment. The result was a disturbing hierarchy whereby a man could be a women's superior and never vice versa. The guys sometimes curtailed their crudest comments when the women were around, but the "effort" still left an appallingly unprofessional environment.

I just wanted to say to some of the assistants, "You do not have to take this and look amused at the conversation, you can ask these guys to stop." But they never would have done that, both because they were friends with the guys and had become used to the environment. And because if they had a complaint they would have had to take it to another man who had come out of the same trading floor environment.

At first, I thought the situation in the trading room occurred because of the aggressive, highpressure nature of the business, but unfortunately I discovered the situation was only somewhat better among the investment bankers, who were supposed to be more civilized. The offensive conversation was much rarer and usually took place behind closed doors, but the secretarial pool was the only division in which you could be sure to find women. Here, yes, there were female associates, but so few high-ranking women that it was painfully clear it was a man's game.

The women who were associates were in the tough position of having superiors who were all male. Though a hard thing to measure, it did seem that the women were less frequently seen engaging in personal conversations with partners than the male employees were. It would be ridiculous to say that members of the opposite sex cannot communicate, but it seemed that the majority of partner-based communication, depending on the person, centered around golf, family or going out with the boys--subjects none of the young female associates I worked with felt particularly close to.

Also, if any of them were good-looking, as some were, they were sure to be a topic of office conversation. Comments such as "Did you see [name] today?" or the day's skirt analyzed for "fashion concerns" were often made within earshot. Even the men who did not actively partake in these conversations did not seem to offer much in the way of meaningful conversational alternatives to the women, with many seemingly uncomfortable around the better-looking women. Again what was so unsettling about these situations was not merely that they occurred, but there were no women who could be counted on to interact in a different manner.

I don't mean to say there were no women in the office; there were secretaries. The firm had so few women that the clerical staff was included when it was necessary to compute the percentage of women for a proposal in order to make the number more respectable. In fact, it was almost like two different worlds--the clerical department being as female dominated as the professional positions were male.

This description should not be taken to mean that my firm was evil or for than matter an anomaly. On several occasions, other friends working at investment banking firms would say something like, "You know, I don't know if it's just my firm, but there are no women on Wall Street." Everyone seemed to have different ideas about the causes, but none objected to the conclusion and all were surprised that it seemed the world of finance was so far behind worlds with which we were familiar.

I come from what I would describe as a fairly progressive upbringing in which equality among the sexes, or anyone else for that matter, was a fact taken for granted. Both my parents were professionals in the public sector who worked in an integrated environment in which both men and women were at least present in all positions at all different levels. That is not to say that I did not believe sexism existed, but in retrospect it seemed more of an individual attribute than an institutional one.

Of course I heard plenty of sexist comments in high school and even said a few things that I was informed were sexist, but my ire was directed more at the P.C. police trying to stomp out anything that could be construed as sexist than at sexism itself. By the time I reached college, sexism--and for that matter, feminism--were things I was tired of hearing about. At a college where I believed, and still do, that things were fundamentally equal I did not see that there was all that much to complain about--that sexism was really a major problem.

Along with this view came an opposition to affirmative action for a variety of reasons, including, although not exclusively, the belief that the women or minorities I was competing against for jobs who were coming out of Harvard had every bit the opportunity I did and that merit should determine who received what position. While women (and other groups) might constitute a minority in many fields, as more and more came out and entered fields such as business, law and medicine the gap would be closed.

Now I do not consider myself naive (though if you truly are I guess you never do) and I never believed that sexism had ceased, but my previous experiences had led me to the impression that some form of nominal equality was fairly universal and, where there were problems, significant steps were being made in the right direction. And I don't think this belief in progress is ignorant. After all, women are now a fixture as reporters in sports locker rooms, and women now make-up almost half the population at law schools and medical schools, many of which did not even accept them until recent decades.

This summer on Wall Street has certainly shattered my belief about equality in one field. My confidence that the professional world has turned the corner has been shaken. It makes me wonder about the rest of society and country and whether this summer or the rest of my experiences were the anomaly.

What to do about the situation I witnessed? It is obviously not easy, but it seems like the most important thing is to get women into the field. Through sheer numbers of women co-workers, the standards for what behavior is deemed acceptable will be raised. And in order to get more women involved in the near future, the presence of women higher up the corporate ladder has to be increased.

It appears the only way in which this is likely to occur is to bring women into the firm at an executive level. And that can only occur through active recruiting from fields such as law that both have women in high places and are a logical entrance into Wall Street.

When will this occur? No one really knows, but it can't happen soon enough.