Why women do IB?

Genuine question:

Why some women want to do Investment Banking (especially the senior female bankers)? What motivates them? Is the "B*tch Boss Mindset a real thing? Wanting to prove something?

I understand men having this desire to become rich, provide, power, etc. (not discussing the accuracy of that in an IB career), but I don't understand why women will want to bear all this amount of stress and unslept hours that will ultimately impact their beauty and health.

Why not just have a comfortable job and have your BF or husband go through all this pain?

Apologies if this seems sexist, but I come from an extremely conservative background where I'm comfortable providing as much as needed from my side and my wife should work only if she wants to, not out of necessity or lack of trust. 

18 Comments
 

The same way you come from a conservative background, others come from different backgrounds and have different values

 
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Why do you want to work in investment banking? Why not just be a stay home dad and find a sugar mommy

 
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There are women out there who also want power and to become rich and ultimately don't want to look to another person for their next meal (provide for themselves). Ultimately it is a bit infantilizing to expect a grown adult woman to fully dependent on her man to provide financially. There is an element of control there that is out her hands, like a child to a parent. Lots of women don't like that and are now allowed to choose a different way - that's it, no weird men are from mars women are from Venus science here.

 

I'm really hoping to get some unfiltered responses from women. I'm curious to hear their point of view.

 

To follow up on that, maybe taking a "comfortable job" is not ideal for some people. Maybe being "tortured by the hours" but achieving something more than a homemaking is better for them. Different people have different goals about what they want in life. You need to learn to accept that, even if you may never understand

 

all my girl friends gunning for finance just love to compete and/or gain status. not rlly sure why else you’d stay in ib unless u genuinely like it?

 

I think it's because they've worked hard their whole life (going to boarding schools and top undergrads etc. etc.) so it's just part of their behavior. I would argue that there's significantly less girls from non-targets as there is guys, proportionately. Doesn't matter cause I think most are out by their early 30's when they realize they should do something more meaningful with their lives (become a mother, see their kid(s), time for relationships, etc.) anyway. Any woman that wants to argue that they're better off not having any kids or a significant other, try not to take your existential crisis and misery out on others in the workplace. 

 

Genuine question:

Would you say that you have meaningful relationships with women in a personal or professional setting outside of your immediate family? If the answer is yes, why don't you ask them this question? If the answer is no, maybe consider why that is the case.

Women are interested in investment banking careers for the exact same reasons as men, although it is important to acknowledge there are structural and systemic challenges to women being able to achieve the same success as men in this industry. That said, those challenges should not exist, and absent their existence, gender is not a driver of interest in investment banking as a career.

Also, would posit that your post doesn't "seem" sexist; it simply is.

 

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