Gender equity
on Wall Street
still lagging
In 1987, when I started my first full-time job as a derivatives trader on the floor of the Commodities Exchange in New York, there was no mention of workplace sexual harassment.
I was told explicitly that the environment on the trading floor was “rough and tumble,” and that if I wanted to be taken seriously I needed to accept the fraternity party shenanigans and figure out how to make money for the company that was employing me.
I was one of eight women traders amid 800 men, and while we often commiserated with one another, we mostly rolled our eyes at the benign name calling and shrugged off the more intrusive bra snapping and physical jostling for position in the trading ring. There is not one of us who would have said a word to a boss about our experiences because we knew that nothing would have been done.
I was thinking about those early years of my career as I watched the new movie “Equity,” a Wall Street thriller starring women. The film, which takes place in the post-financial crisis era, explores gender and generational roles in the finance industry in an entertaining and provocative way.
As the film unfolds, we see ambitious women walking the tightrope between being too nice and being accused of “having sharp elbows” or “rubbing people the wrong way.” Naomi, the main character, played by Anna Gunn of “Breaking Bad” fame, is a star investment banker who needs a big win on a tech initial public offering after a previous deal went south. Her associate Erin (Sarah Megan Thomas) is trying to climb the corporate ladder while juggling her personal life.
The women in “Equity” sometimes adapt to their male-dominated field by holding their noses and resorting to questionable methods. Sam (Alysia Reiner of “Orange is the New Black”), the assistant U.S. attorney who is a college acquaintance of Naomi, uses her sexuality to her advantage as she investigates Naomi's firm for insider trading.
Besides being immensely entertaining, “Equity” is the first movie that I have seen where Wall Street women are portrayed as fully formed characters, not sidekicks or girlfriends. Naomi, Erin and Sam resemble real women that I know who work in all of these jobs.
I'm guessing the reason for the accurate portrayals is that women also populated the big roles behind the camera. In addition to co-starring in the film, both Reiner and Thomas were co-producers. I spoke to Reiner recently, and she told me that they, along with writer Amy Fox and director Meera Menon, spoke to current and former women who worked on Wall Street, some of whom became investors in the film.
I asked Reiner what she found most surprising about the industry among the interviews that they conducted. She said that it was stunning that women on Wall Street still confront such overt sexism when they show up to work every day.
While there has been progress from the bad old days of my youth, clearly there needs to be more. According to Catalyst, the 2015 U.S. gender pay gap is significant: Women earned 81.1 percent of men's salaries based on median weekly earnings for full-time workers. But the biggest gap is in the finance industry. Women account for more than half of all employees, yet earn nearly 69 cents for every $1 men make.
We've got a long way to go to achieve equity.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
