At my test center, I could hardly notice any girl taking the L3 exam… In fact in the exam room I was seated in, there was just one girl… There might be a few for L1 and L2, I can understand this scenario being in India, as there are few girls who go for higher studies, many are not given the opportunity to study, or maybe because of the huge fees. many a times, girls are expected to sacrifice their careers to take care of their families etc… Moreover, in finance the ratio of girls to guys is even less…
However, from what I read on AF, I can gather that the scenario is not very different all around the world, it seems that there are fewer women taking the CFA exams in the rest of the world as well… Any thoughts on why is it so in highly developed countries like the US too where girls are treated on par with guys, unlike some parts of India…
I think that you’re ascribing more enlightenment to the world than truly exists; women are not generally encouraged to pursue the more difficult academic studies (e.g., mathematics, business, science) even in the more progressive nations.
I relish having women in my CFA classes (as I did in my mathematics classes); they’re all too rare.
S2000Magician is right. It’s not just the case in finance. Sciences have even fewer girls than Finance, if any. If you want to see girls, go for marketing, medicine, social sciences etc. or go see HR department at your firm.
There are tons of programs meant to promote engineering, math, business, etc. to women. Companies in these fields or schools like MIT essentialy have affirmative action for women. However, the women just don’t do it.
I don’t think it’s because of lack of encouragement. At least partly, I think it’s because women are risk averse. It’s not that women do not do things that are academically difficult - medicine, law, biology, or even college in general are over represented with women.
The specific fields above are hard, but the path and payout are predictable, and that is what women like. To a certain extent, these are also subjects where hard work leads to a high success rate, unlike maybe physics or math, where your effort cannot always lead to success.
We always hear people talk about women being better at some things, like managing risk, because they are risk averse (not controlled by testicles). However, this will surely make women averse to other things.
To add onto Ohai’s points: payout is uncertain and people can get pretty mean. It takes a pretty thick skin for any man or woman to work some of these roles.
This is extremely accurate when it comes to women in financial sales. They are, by far, tougher than us men. They are generally labled “bull dogs” or “pit bulls” and the like. I suppose they feel like they need to compensate for being a woman, or that’s just the type of women we attract. The nice, bubbly, flirty women are the ones that do the best anyway. But even they are ruthless behind the scenes…as we all are.
In my experience that labelling is just because they are women that are doing a traditionally male job. It’s not reality, just a label. A lot of people assume male nurses must be effeminate or are somehow feminine. That is not the case either. People are just trying to make money. It’s just a job.
I’d also say that for the minority of women that are in finance, there is such a small marginal benefit to having the CFA that is isn’t work the hundreds of hours of effort to get it.
The moment an AF member announces that she’s a woman, look at how the men on the board treat her.
Is it any wonder there are so few women in these fields: the smart ones learn to avoid us, and the dumb ones get filtered out. A few, like krnyc, have a thick skin and just ignore the cr*p and move on with stuff, but they are a tiny minority.
There are also some who are stunningly attractive and use their attractiveness to try to put us men off our guard, but they tend to be better rewarded in sales.
Not sure what your experience is with women wholesalers or institutional salespeople, but mine is pretty extensive. No, they really are much “harder” individuals than men. They tend to demand respect instead of earn it.
In the states, the reason we see a lot of women doctors is that the med schools make sure that is the case. This has contributed to our doctor shortage since female doctors work far fewer hours over the course of their careers. Are med schools around the world practicing the same discrimination based on sex. Much harder to get into med school as a male in the states than as a female. The ratio of admissions to applicants for females is much higher.
Because men have dicks that tell them to be alpha and not care for or serve other humans. Dudes want to hunt wild boar and fight other dudes, not tend to the village.