<p>“I was coming home from work too tired to enjoy my kids. I went part time as soon as I could afford it and eventually I quit. I went part time in the late 80’s and I am not that old.”</p>
<p>Believe me, many people wish they could afford to do that, both men and women. Most of us have not been that successful that we could do that.</p>
<p>“My kids were only going to be young once and I wasn’t going to miss it. I am glad I had the choice and I am happy with my choice.”</p>
<p>Sounds like you made the right one. When they’re grown up and moved away, that childhood is gone.</p>
<p>“I am not a woman but I want women to have their choices without others making excuses to hold women back.”</p>
<p>I actually don’t know if there are any industries that are openly saying that they are holding women back----that is, places where the women actually want to be. Where are they? Times have changed pretty quickly. Just because frat brothers are helping each other get jobs (ie from the information on this thread) doesn’t mean they are purposefully not hiring women.</p>
<p>" Just because frat brothers are helping each other get jobs (ie from the information on this thread) doesn’t mean they are purposefully not hiring women."</p>
<p>Kind of does…by definition. :)</p>
<p>"It is ideas that hold women back.</p>
<p>An idea like women dont want to put in tons of hours at work…so we are going to look at men for jobs. </p>
<p>Or the idea that men are the breadwinners so women can be paid less.</p>
<p>That’s because doing so will rightfully open them up to EEOC employment discrimination claims from the EEOC office and/or applicants/former female employees who felt they were targeted because of their gender. </p>
<p>Most companies aren’t that stupid considering gender is a protected class. Instead, they tend to come up with many subtle or carefully crafted methods for doing the same without broadcasting it out loud. </p>
<p>It’s a reason cited by labor lawyer friends why HR/hiring managers interviewing job applicants are no longer supposed to ask about one’s marital status or potential family plans among other things…and why they’d advise applicants…especially female applicants to never volunteer such information at an interview.</p>
<p>I don’t know if there is anyone advocating on this forum that women should be paid less or not be able to work in certain industries. For the most part, I think women stay away from certain jobs, they just aren’t interested. One can blame sexism or employers attitudes, but the reality is, if women don’t want to go for it to attain and keep these jobs, then they don’t want them badly enough, or at all.</p>
<p>Just for the record, I wasn’t saying that investment banks discriminate against woman (of course, I have no way of knowing). Rather, I was suggesting the reason for the disparity in the ratio of men to women in this business is because women are not applying for these jobs in the same numbers as men. </p>
<p>Maybe it is sexist (I don’t know) but I was wondering if the reason for this is because women are not as interested as men in careers where their entire lives are consumed by their occupations, like investment banking. It can also be a cutthroat business, which may not be particularly attractive to some women (as well as some men).</p>
<p>If people disagree with my explanation, do you have an alternative reason why more guys than women apply for investment banking internships and analyst positions?</p>
<p>There are more men attracted to wall street and there is discrimination against women. Both. </p>
<p>Not everybody who works on wall street or in hedge funds or on trading floors or trading desks are sexist pigs…but…there are a lot of sexist pigs.</p>
<p>Here is a good article that explains why we have the lost battle just by framing this as a women’s issue. We are far behind other countries in this regard. If companies feel that families are important then they have to accommodate families, not women. There are plenty of ways to do that without giving up one hour of work. It involves changing some of work models from the bottom up but we, as a nation, only look at it as accommodating the current models. We can’t even imagine it.</p>
<p>It’s not just investment banking…there are very few women who are real estate developers. As far as I know, I don’t think anyone in this industry intentionally discriminates against women.</p>
<p>At the risk of being accused of sexism, women may be turned off by the rough and tumble environment in which developers have to operate. It is not for the faint of heart. It also requires tolerance for risk-taking and all-encompassing obsessive pursuit of goals which may require significant personal sacrifices. It’s not a matter of whether they are qualified to work in this industry, it is whether they want to or have the personality characteristics to enjoy the work. </p>
<p>I am probably going to get h*ll for these remarks.</p>
<p>Well, only one woman driver at the Monster truck rally I’m at. She lost pretty quickly, and my husband commented…female drivers. My response? Danica Patrick!</p>
<p>The Monster Truck rally was great. It was my first one. Go Gravedigger, ahhh!</p>
<p>We really did not fit in with the Tacoma crowd, but oh well. Nice people.</p>
<p>Goldenpooch, you should check out the “Flip this House” thread. Coralbrook is one tough lady, no faint of heart, shrinking violet there. She’s been up to her elbows in sewer water, just another day in the job of a house flipper. I suspect if she had a larger budget to work with, she would be an excellent real estate developer.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I have seen some great women real estate developers, just that they’re few and far between. </p>
<p>If your daughter, Sally 305, wants to pursue a career in real estate, she should go for it. Of course, it’s a field that encompasses many different types of jobs, so she will have to figure out where she wants to specialize.</p>
<p>BD, I will have to check out that thread. I wonder how well she did with the house flipping during the 2007-11 time frame.</p>
<p>dstark, assuming you weren’t being facetious, thanks for the comment.</p>
<p>Just to be precise, when I refer to real estate developers, I am talking about people who build from the ground-up multi-family, commercial, industrial or hospitality developments.</p>
<p>I’d only look at that thread if you’re actually interested, GP, it’s pretty long. But it amazes me to see people with so much perseverance and willingness to work unbelievably hard. Now that I’m older, I want to work far less and get far more for my effort. Otherwise, forget it!</p>