Wall Street Women

Abstract

Patricia Riley and I sat in her small office in one of the major Wall Street firms in midtown Manhattan.It was March 1994, the first day of my fieldwork on the pioneering generation of women on Wall Street.∞ Patricia was one of the most senior women in global finance, a veteran with more than twenty years in the area of research.When she first entered the world of finance in the seventies, researchers were considered to be support staff for investment bankers and traders, helping them make deals.But by the time of our conversation, which occurred within a bull market, research strategists such as Patricia were part of the ''front office'' and were among the most valued employees because they were understood to be generating revenue for the firm.Soon Patricia and I were deep into conversation about her life, career, and why she and other women had been so successful in finance.Her account drew on the differences between men and women and risk taking: I think that when women look at stocks, they have a lot more respect for the concept of risk.This serves them well.Men are classics.I constantly get this-they are at a cocktail party, and they get a hot tip.If you suggest electronics, they want to buy it.But women will sit there and say ''like my family's ira account'' or whatever.The women want something conservative, something long term, something they can hold on to for a couple of years.Meanwhile the men always want something that is going to double the next week.I don't know whether it is good or bad.But, in terms of outcome, I think that women's attitudes are better for investing.Patricia's version of gender difference was characteristic of the nineties, when Wall Street women invoked and reframed the figure of the

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