One of the questions I'm most frequently asked is "what is it like to work in a male-dominated industry". I'm always surprised when people put the question to me, since it's my firm belief that most industries are male dominated anyway. You only have to look at the profile column of Business This Week to see that the number of men being profiled vastly outnumbers the women. What those asking the question really want to know is what it's like to work in this particular male-dominated industry.
Because, without a doubt, financial services and particularly the capital markets side of financial services has a reputation for being the stomping ground of a particular breed of boorish and sexist men. The most recent story of Wall Street excess (which was carried in this newspaper a couple of weeks ago) focused on the $1.75 million (£1.2 million) pay-out to female staff of Lew Lieberbaum & Co who had sued the company for sexual harassment. The piece was frightening in its portrayal of a day in the life of a female employee of Lew Lieberbaum. The scale and range of the harassment was so extreme that it makes me wonder how anyone could spend more than an hour in the place without walking out. And, of course, there was no one to complain to because the management not only condoned the behaviour but participated in it.
Apparently, the staff at the company (which has since changed its name) are now undergoing counselling on harassment awareness. I've no idea whether the women concerned are receiving any counselling to help overcome the abuse to which they were subjected. But high profile stories like that actually end up making people feel complacent about how things are for many women in business. The fact that most aren't being degraded in the way that those women were doesn't necessarily mean that everyone finds it easy. The networking system for women is still dramatically limited compared to that for their male counterparts. And most women absolutely hate the idea of networking anyway!
When, last year, Reuters in Ireland organised a day out for the women in the business many of us felt uncomfortable about the idea of a day specifically targeted at women. However, there was an instant camaraderie as we exchanged the reaction of our various male colleagues to the event which ranged from "we're far too busy for you to leave the office" (this from a guy who'd spent the previous day at a golf tournament) to "what can you possibly talk about for an entire day?" We had plenty of things to talk about!
When I first started work, I thought strident women screeching about discrimination were just women who wouldn't have made it anyway. But now I'm not so sure. My first job was with the Central Bank. I see, from the latest annual report that there are no women in senior managerial positions. The reason that was the case back in the early 1980s was that the marriage bar had only recently been lifted and no woman had been able to stay there long enough to get promoted. But in 1998? What's happened since? I knew lots of talented, intelligent women there. Have they all left? And if so, why?
Not for the reason that nearly made a close friend walk out of her job in disgust. Promoted to managerial level she was told that her badly needed office would be forthcoming at the end of the year. Fine, she thought as she struggled on hidden behind a potted plant. Then she discovered that the guy who'd been promoted after her had been allocated a rather nifty office with a nice view over the city! She threw a wobbler, he was evicted, she got the office. The reason he'd been given it in the first place was, simply, that he'd asked for it. My friend hadn't, she assumed that the next available office would be allocated to her. But, as she said afterwards, does it really matter that much?
I wish I knew. And to answer the lingering question have I ever been sandbagged myself? Of course! But who hasn't? It's a question of deciding whether it's personal or not. You can't blame it on the fact that you're a woman. Because guys certainly have a different way of operating when it comes to business. Most of them honestly respect a bit of back-stabbing on the office floor. I'd love to be able to say I got my revenge on the guy who took the glory for a particular project I worked on, but, sadly, I never did.
However at least the markets have a happy knack of levelling all male or female. Doesn't matter what sex you are when you're a holder of the long bond and it decides to rocket through 6 per cent again. Or if you rushed into Korean Development Bank just before it was downgraded.
The Far East could still be the greatest leveller of them all as another wave of nervousness hits the markets following rioting in Indonesia again as opposition to President Suharto intensifies.
Meanwhile, in Korea, the banks will decide by next month which of the country's industrial groups they can continue to support with new loans. They will be grading companies as normal, salvable and non-viable. Bad loans continue to rise at a frightening pace and there are genuine fears of another financial crisis with the stock index at an 11-year low. According to reports, an average of 3,000 Korean companies have failed each month since December. Japanese banks are looking more and more vulnerable too.
At least most people were happy to see sterling take a bit of a tumble, thus making a liar out of anyone (male or female) who said that there would be a flight of funds to sterling as a safe haven from the euro. Sterling a safe haven! That's like saying that men and women are exactly the same. A flight of fancy is more like it!
Sheila O Flanagan is a fixed-income specialist at NCB Stockbrokers
