Thank you, Madinvex, ‘Sweaty’, and FxStrategist!
Yes, each gender has its drawbacks… As a man, I know that I can be too aggressive or confrontational, which
is partly aggravated by that part of the brain that shuts down emotional empathy with the person in front of you. When faced with
a ‘fight or flight’ situation, women can be better than men at diffusing tension… But nobody wants to be stereotyped,
and I know that if I am aggressive it is no use saying that it is ‘because I am a man’: I have to deal with it as a personal
issue, affecting my relationship with people around me at certain times. Equally, women who experience being pushed
aside by more aggressive types (the fact that it happens to be mostly men is not to say that all men are more aggressive)
cannot just blame it on ‘because I am a woman’ but must wonder if there is anything that they can do individually to
not be seen as ‘shrinking violets’ in the workplace…
What my thread is trying to do is to educate myself, and to raise awareness in other forum users, of how much
gender bias is a part of daily life, and how it can affect negatively both men and women; in the trading context,
at certain levels, women fare the worst because the ‘other’ camp (the male camp) has the upper hand historically,
through men linking hands with more men and protecting its own privilege (the ‘old boys’ factor).
I think that it is good to be open about ***ism and negative gender bias because to shove it under the carpet and
say that everything is okay - look, we have one woman CEO in THAT company! - is just not really the way forward…
It would be interesting to hear from women traders here (e.g. ‘Sweaty’) and their experiences of gender bias,
if not in trading then in other places (e.g. going to a car showroom, discussing ‘male’ things with other people,
going for a job and be excluded as the only woman in the office, etc)…
Cheers