No Place for Old Men?

On the contrary. 

Amidst the gradual demise of this country’s economic infrastructure, legal and financial institutions have been faced with historic downsizing efforts.  The public has been inundated with headlines foretelling salary cuts, layoffs, and disappearing pensions.  As the dust begins to settle, it appears that these mass reductions are widening a gender gap that, up to now, had been slowly closing. 

On March 16, Forbes magazine ran a cover article exposing claims made by Wall Street women that female employees have endured the brunt of downsizing efforts.  According to the article, the financial services and insurance firms have cut approximately 260,000 jobs.  An astounding 72% of these jobs belonged to women, even though women only constituted 64% of the workforce before the economic downturn. 

Many of the ousted female professionals are seeking legal recourse and have recently filed charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  Attorney Douglas Wigdor, who is featured in the Forbes article, currently represents a group of five former managers and rising young stars who claim they were victimized by the cuts.  In the article, Mr. Wigdor describes the cuts as a case of “recessionary discrimination.”

Still, other women with cognizable claims against various financial institutions will not come forward.  There is a concern that in doing so, they will be professionally exiled from the industry once the economy regains its footing.  The Forbes article recounts a 2007 class action settlement, where female employees at Morgan Stanley were given the opportunity to opt-in:

 Alice Hughes, a Morgan Stanley financial adviser in Dallas, talked with several women who declined to participate–and not because they planned to pursue separate claims. “It was just sheer fear,” she says, that even if they kept their jobs they might be excluded from benefits like getting a chunk of business when another broker left the firm. “They’re right,” says Hughes. Moreover, she claims, if they make trouble, “they will be blacklisted from working at any major firm.”