Women entering IB at associate level
I am curious to know what is the career path that women who enter IB at associate level take? Do most women leave after few years? How difficult is it to make a career in banking if you would like to have a family?
Let me caveat this with the fact that I am in the anlayst role, and do not have children, so I can only comment on what I observe from my older colleagues (however, that will likely be better answers than the value add comments above).
A lot depends on your firm, your group, the teams you work with, etc. It's impossible to be able to give a clear answer without all those variables.
That being said, IB is obviously a crap ton of hours at the associate level still and travel also becomes a factor. If you can rough out the 3 or so years as an associate, it definitely appears to get better at the VP level, except travel continues to increase without a doubt. However, in the end I work with some crazy MDs who are on the phone with me at midnight or later, so it never 100% gets better but the seniors that I work with that seem to do the best with family life, really commit to carving out time for them. IE one person I work with always goes home for dinner with the family and then starts working again after spending time with the kids and putting them to bed.
All that being said, I think it's about priorities, as you get more senior, you can set your priorities better and you can carve out time for your family but it can easily swallow you up if you let it.
From an actual having kids perspective, I think most banks have become a lot more flexible around maternity leave in the interest of keeping a more inclusive work force at the associate VP level, so I wouldn't worry to much about that point.
Just my perspective, I'd definitely recommend trying to get others though.