I think that articles like these are telling, in light of what Linda Raschke was dismissing as a no-issue:
it may be the case that it is not an issue for those who already have a secure place behind a trading desk,
but such low percentages of women traders are not due only to a lack of willingness but also to a ‘right-fit’
scenario. If a company only recruits based on what they think would a be a ‘right-fit’ for their trading team,
then if the trading team is not particularly diverse it will likely only recruit people in the same ethnic, gender,
and even age category.
Linda also said that bubbles are nothing to do with male trading, but the fact that ON THE WHOLE it has
been shown again and again (and I quoted a few studies in this thread, but there are more) that women traders
are less risk averse and therefore incur in fewer losses, have steadier equity curves etc. is exactly to the point,
that companies with a more gender-diverse trading desk are not just paying lip-service to some secret leftist
gender agenda but actually increasing profits. The old concept that only high-risk alpha males can make profits
in Wall Street is unwilling to give way, EVEN IN THE FACE of data suggesting that actually that kind of high-risk
model often leads to bigger disasters further down the way. Of course, trading and investing is not so simplistic,
but even with automated risk management software and all kinds of new technologies, if at the core of a business
is the old high-risk, pit-trading attitude, then what would a more gender-diverse business model look like?
There are a lot of issues to unpack here, of course, including working hours and maternity leave for women in
trading jobs that may include anti-social hours, etc. We seem to have a sort of ‘holy’ view of financial markets
where only fit, non-child-bearing, never-sick men can lead to higher profits, and where only profits matter: but
actually, a healthier culture could lead to fewer high losses and heart attacks, less cocaine addiction and imbalance, more children without absent fathers and mothers, and so on.
The age of diversity in finance has begun, and it cannot be but a good thing for all concerned…
- but how the hell it could be considered a Science ? !