Now where do I begin... There is a deep deep foundation of inequality between men and women. Women are hired more often for certain roles rather than others, and not surprisingly those roles top out at VP rather than Managing Director or Partner like the roles that are more often held by men. Last year on national women's day (or a comparable made up holiday), we got an email from the executive office stating that they recognized the disparity between men and women at the firm, and in an effort to remedy that, they would be endeavoring to hire 50/50 men vs. women in the incoming analyst class...... This hollow attempt at a solution just floored me. It felt like throwing a limp soggy bandaid on a gaping wound. The problem isn't that you aren't hiring enough female analysts at the bottom of the ladder--the problem is that you aren't enabling women to stay in the workforce and move UP the ladder. Better yet, you aren't holding men to the same standards that you hold for women who seek the same promotions.
For example, a good friend of mine spent ten years at the firm. She had multiple credentials behind her name, had recently gotten her MBA, and spoke up about wanting to make the switch to a separate position with more responsibility and room for upward mobility (also a role overwhelming held by men). Management told her that they were instead going to give her a different role that they'd just created--something sort of halfway between what she'd been doing already and what she wanted to do. Simultaneously, there was a guy who had been hired at the firm straight out of college, who'd been there two years and had no advance degrees but walked around with his chest puffed out, and management decided that he WOULD be a good fit for the same role that my friend was trying to get into. For what it's worth, this wasn't something that they were just hiring one person for but rather they were accumulating many candidates to train for the program all at once, so there was definitely room for the both of them at the onset. My friend kept fighting and finally she was given the okay to go into the program, but they'd managed to ruin the whole thing for her in the process. She ended up making the decision to leave the firm and is much better off now... But it was certainly an eye opening experience for me. If you're a woman, expect to work ten times as hard for the same opportunities.
Additionally, and this is particularly timely given the recent cultural awareness provided by #metoo, if you're a woman, you can expect to get touched inappropriately by men that you work with. It's literally just something that you get used to. I'd be talking to my friends in other industries about this one guy who always puts his hand on my lower back or the other one that would rub my shoulders, and they'd be SHOCKED. Another dude would always find a way to get close to me at office happy hours and find some way to touch me. Meanwhile I was just used to laughing it off! Another time, a male supervisor reprimanded me for "not bothering to put on some earrings" before a client meeting. Mind you I was wearing makeup, a tailored Armani skirt suit, low Louboutin heels, and had done my hair, but that wasn't put together enough for him! He was wearing.... a suit. My work friends and I would all share stories over drinks, but we all knew that nothing was going to be done about it. Management was already aware, but the primary offenders were the rich white dudes that kept their business afloat (in their eyes), so there was no touching them (pun intended).
How about another one... After my first year, I had exceedingly positive feedback in my 360 Feedback (the word "allstar" was used multiple times by multiple aforementioned important white men) and yet I got a 3% raise. A male peer had been hired a week after me in the same role, had made multiple mistakes that cost the firm money, and got a 6% raise (yes, we discussed these things). His bonus from the firm was also twice what I got. A year later the same guy was fired after he CONTINUED to make mistakes, and I was promoted to a different title but again only got a 3% raise. For anyone who is want to say that women make less because they don't negotiate, I can promise you I fought tooth and nail for a higher raise, and was given a YOU'RE WELCOME with my measly 3%.
If you're pretty and you're smart, you won't have any trouble making friends, but you WILL have a hard time getting ahead. I wish I'd known ahead of time!
