While I never let it break me, I have stomached many sexist remarks – not to mention pure acts of chauvinism - many times during the course of my 25 year career in finance. An incident that currently comes to mind is the time when, at 24 years old, I landed a job on an institutional bond desk. When I arrived at work on my very first day, my new boss did not see a trader, he saw a skirt. In front of the entire trading desk, he tossed me his apartment keys and demanded that I take his dogs for a walk. I was mortified. I mustered all my strength not to walk out then and there. But since quitting is not in my DNA, I made the best of a very degrading job by taking pleasure in learning everything I could about the bond trading business. And when I wasn’t cleaning up dog shit, I was happily monitoring treasury futures. In doing so, I started noticing an interesting trading pattern that I used to predict - with some reliability - the direction of the stock market. Not only did I end up making some money trading index options, that demeaning position was a direct stepping to numerous career accolades.
Although I would never diminish it or deny its existence, I just don’t see sexism as an escalating problem in FinTech - or anywhere in the developed world for that matter. In fact, what I see trending is the exact opposite. Extraordinary women in FinTech are all around us. I read about them every single day – not only in leading industry rags like FintekNews, Bankless Times and Crowdfund Insider, but also in long-established financial periodicals. In fact, FintekNews, which is published by Cindy Taylor, an accomplished FinTech visionary in her own right, devotes an entire section just to women in FinTech. Geri Stengel, who writes a column in Forbes, is always featuring exceptional female FinTech entrepreneurs.
To hear some people describe it, you’d think that rampant sexism is driving women away in droves from FinTech opportunities. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am constantly encountering remarkable women in FinTech leadership like RealtyMogul.com CEO Jilliene Helman, who in her twenties built one of the largest and most prominent online marketplaces for real estate investing. Or, crowdfunding pioneer, Sally Outlaw, whose new digital investing savings app, Worthy, is poised to displace the entire retail brokerage industry. Or, Yali Harari, CEO of Innovesta, creator the first real-time crowd-diligence platform. Or iDisclose CEO, Georgia Quinn, an attorney and FinTech trailblazer, who created the industry’s premier legal technology platform for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs accessing capital.My female FinTech colleagues are not cowering in some corner or fleeing swarms of sexists. They are out – in droves - proudly showcasing their technology and speaking at prominent FinTech events.
People who believe that there is a dearth of women in FinTech are simply not looking close enough. And for those who expressed their concern for us, women in FinTech, I have a message for you.
You need not worry about us. We are doing just fine on our own. While you're out there throwing some pity party on our behalf, were are reveling in our successes.
We do not need any proclamations from men vowing to improve their treatment of us - as if we are somehow a weaker gender. We’re way too preoccupied building our businesses and shattering glass ceilings to care.
We triumph, not because men treat us better, but because our products are superior, our ideas are more innovative, our technology more advanced and our work ethics more solid. It is the quality of our work demands and receives respect. To suggest otherwise is patronizing.
We are not victims. We are victors. So, please do away with such condescending, self-serving commentary. Any man who intimates that women need the assistance of men in order to succeed in FinTech is no better than the chauvinist whom he outwardly condemns. A guy who thinks like that might as well apply for a job at SoFi.
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