Calm down dear...sexism is leaving the City

Yesterday I encountered some sexism in the office. It was like opening a picnic basket to discover a bloodied, maggot-infested arm stump instead of potato salad; disappointing (no one wants to eat maggot-infested arm stump) but thrilling too, for reasons I'll come to shortly.

The conversation was about a piece of information relating to a client. I asked if a male colleague had clarifed some information we needed and he said 'I thought you were doing that?' I said 'It's really your responsibility to follow it up, and to know that detail'. He said 'I thought you were going to call that girl who sends you the information.' I said 'No, that's really something you should do.' He said 'Fine. I just thought you were going to do it. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.' I said 'I don't think I am'. He said 'We've already spent five minutes talking about it.' End of conversation.

I'm sorry to record such a dull conversation. We can agree there was a breakdown in communication as to who was meant to do what. No problem there. But any seasoned watcher of sexism will spot two phrases of interest (1) 'you're making a mountain out of a mole hill' and (2) 'that girl,' and smile with recognition.

There were no raised voices or suggestions this was a problem bigger than knowing what an account manager is responsible for. The conversation took about 30 seconds, not five minutes. That is exaggeration. If it had been left at 'Fine. I just thought you were going to do it,' it would be a very different interaction. But to then go on to say 'You're making a mountain out of a mole hill' changes the conversation. The reference to 'that girl' is interesting too. The information in question is sent to me by a senior male at the client firm. My colleague should know this given the importance of the communication.  I think the implication is that the correspondence is the domain of 'admin girls'.
As any down to earth woman does I immediately questioned my reaction and judgement. Was I being too sensitive about this? So I applied the 'Man Test'. The 'Man Test' is important. You basically substitute yourself in the relevant conversation with a man of similar professional stature. I concluded it was sexism because if our (male) Head of Sales had said to my colleague, 'You need to know this kind of detail' the response would not have been 'You're making a mountain out of a mole hill,' it would have been 'Yeah, yeah, OK, I'm on it.' My gut feel was 'that was some sexist Attitude right there' and the Man Test confirmed it.

The incident was not dangerous, hardly offensive, and not remotely in the same universe as being called a 'tethered goat' (a famous sex discrimation case in the City). But let's call it what it was; sexism. The whole thing reminded me of David Cameron telling his female Opposition colleague to 'calm down dear'...all very easy to fob off as an ad-inspired joke but we know it's being done to casually, sometimes very subtley, put women down.

But this is hardly a poster story to prove the glass ceiling still exists so why am I writing about it? Well, that's just it. I was caught off guard because where I work it's so rare.

This year will be my seventh year as a stockbroker in the City of London. I was 27 when I started and, as I am technically and legally a woman, I can assure you I've seen, heard and encountered sexism that has made me roar with laughter, wince, and gasp in equal measure. I'm happy to say it's never made me cry but that was a question I was asked once in a City interview 'Do you cry at work much...because we can't hire a girl who cries.' If you apply the Man Test to 'Do you cry at work' in an interview I think you'll agree that's some Gold Standard Sexist Bollocks.

But yesterday's 'Mountain out of a Mole Hill' comment really caught me by surprise. I went home and realised that for the past five years I've been working in a haven of stockbroking gender respect. I was out of practice. It was almost thrilling...like I'd stumbled on some forgotten relic of the City, or found that bloodied human stump in my lunch box.

Perhaps it's because I work at a young company - both in terms of years in business and in the age of the people within the business. Perhaps it's because of the personalities who set the business up. I should declare I'm a shareholder in the company, I'm married to the Chief Executive and have been involved with the business from the outset. But I know I've been offered very good career opportunities over the years based on merit and I'm also one of the most vocal people internally about our weaknesses when it comes to women in the business. We do have them. We don't buck the general trend. There are no women on our board and I am one of only two women who sit on the Heads of Department committee (and mine is a department of one). Women make up only 20% of our workforce and in three rounds of graduate intakes we have not yet hired a woman graduate. We have found it very difficult to attract female grads despite wanting to. Why is this?

I can guess that stockbroking sounds like a 'numbers' job. Are there stats to show that more women grads apply to other sectors? I don't know, I need to look that up. If true (I would never have considered broking as a career while at University for that reason) this is a great shame because, like sales and marketing, stockbroking is all about telling, or writing, an engaging story. It's also about building long term relationships with clients.

I also wonder, and worry, that young women think 'broking = old men = sexist bullshit = no way on God's green Earth I am applying for that malarky'. Historically they'd probably be right (though I'm not convinced broking is statistically worse than any other sector). But this week's 'mole hill' incident highlighted that no matter the industry or its reputation you can suddenly find yourself at the forefront of a great change in attitudes. I think the City is moving into a new era of modernity and I think the shock it's currently undergoing - redundancies, losses, mergers etc - will force change faster. Businesses that want to survive will need to professionalise.

So, if you're a grad thinking about a job then stick the City on your Serious Options list, even if you're an English Lit major. And if you're a woman in the City now and you stumble across some sexism in the corridors then call it and deal with it how you see fit. But do then recommend it to the Endangered States list and tuck the memory away to tell to your disbelieving granddaughters. For men have already proven that mountains are made over time by geophysical forces, not moles or women.