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Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:22:17 -0500 (EST)
To: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Victoria Li Fossum <vfossum &AElig eecs.umich.edu>
Subject: from the front lines
Status: O

A while ago, I asked a mutual friend to contact a woman I know who's the
sole female analyst at a venture capital firm to discuss her experiences
as a woman (both in undergrad/master's in accounting, and in the corporate
world--she has worked at a software company, a consulting firm, and now a
venture capital firm, all very high-powered companies).

In case anyone is interested, I've enclosed her responses below.  I just
thought it might be interesting to have another perspective.  In my
understanding, venture capital remains sort of a male bastion within the
(still largely male-dominated) finance industry, similar to computer
architecture (Lisa's field) within the field of computer science, or
organic chemistry/synthesis within the field of chemistry, or neurosurgery
within the field of medicine, etc.  My point being, this field is perhaps
as male-dominated and/or chauvinistic as it gets.

-Victoria

> -> Do you think you ever feel overt anti-female discrimination in work?
>
> YES! Especially here at [venture capital firm]. Not so much at [software
company] or even at [consulting firm].
> We're talking about drunk executives calling you up for a "drink" behind
> your boss' back, comments re: womenly bio issues and the all-important
> physicial features, an *ss slap with an annual report once, and just the
> general miasma of "if you're too soft, you're incompetent; if you're too
> hard you're a (I leave you to imagine the monikers)." The guys I work
> with are good but the bankers and CEOs are terrible.
>
> -> Did you every feel it in school? Especially, for example, when you
> were doing better than the guys in your class, which must have happened
> often?
>
> To be fair, not so much but undergrad/Masters accounting is very girl
> friendly = 50% ratio and the top students were evenly distributed b/w
> girls and guys. I've been talking to female Phds who say that the gender
> pressures are also significantly less in Acctg than say Finance or
> Economics (evidence of sort of male bastions being established in
> certain domains perhaps?). I do recall bad comments, avuncular profs who
> patted your knee, etc. but then I thought that sort of thing couldn't
> really hold me back. Now I understand, when promos are based are
> relationships and even in school, when advisor mentorship is directed at
> those who they see as younger versions of themselves, it's hard for
> women to step out of a daughter/hot chick/whatever role and really earn
> a boss' respect.
>
> I would understand if Vicki experiences it in a very guy-ish field
and
> I've noticed attitudes worsening the older we get. In high school, it
> appeared that at least everyone played lip service or was open to the
> idea that women are equal, that they can get everything they want, that
> they can also date whoever whenever until however old they get, that
> they can pursue careers, marriage, etc. Now, I find that people's
> attitudes, both male and female, are solidifying into essentially what
> their parents or peers think. Or maybe it's just that chauvinists
> self-select themselves into the jobs/academic programs we apply for now.
> I also think affirmative action has played a role to cause men to "look
> twice" at a women's credentials before accepting that she really
> "deserves" to be there. Finally, women in part do themselves in by
> believing the hype - that they were hired to incl women in the faculty,
> that their eggs are dying so quick, grab a husband and birth that baby
> before it's too late (Prof Sylvia Hewitt, that crone!, wrote a HBR
> article and book that sent women everywhere in a tizzy), that it's too
> hard to get through the glass ceiling and wouldn't it be easier to marry
> a nice, rich man instead?
>
> There's this website re: female Phd studies that's thoroughly depressing
> if you're interested.
> http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/myresearch/hrsa.html
>
> And if you're more intrigued with the social drawbacks to being a woman,
> read the New York Times Magazine two Sundays ago - Maureen Dowd provides
> a retrospective on all the "women, your life sucks" articles ever, incl
> a reference to a tome my mom would have loved telling women that men
> love a girl who is like a "mysterious, soft cat".
>
> I don't know if I buy all of the negativity. I do think if you're clever
> and willing to laugh at yourself enough, the average situation doesn't
> apply to you, that you can still break the "rules" but the evidence is
> discouraging to say the least.
>
> Sorry - I didn't mean to write a novel but you pressed a button.
> Interested in feedback from you/Vicki. =)