Why don't more women go into PE?

Team pages have like 2-3 women max. Are the women in analysts programs just not pursuing PE and opting for Corporate roles instead ? Can anyone share their experience or those of your female friends and the paths they take after their IB stints ?

 

You can run a process with a headhunter specifically asking for some women on the shortlist, and they will come back empty handed. Hard to say why, knowing that there are at least some female bankers & consultants in my city (top 5 US population).

The women I know are fans of following paths well travelled, and so the ones I know that are actually in PE went to BB banks and recruited oncycle as that was what "they were supposed to do". But when it comes to MM or consulting, the paths of least resistance are different and either lead to business school or corporate (in my market). And for those that did business school, without PE pre-mba its not common to do PE immediately post-mba.

Would be interested to hear a woman's perspective.

 

This is interesting. What type of fund are you at in terms of size? Have you tried to actively target women from banking teams in your city?

Interested in hearing a woman’s perspective too.

 

It would be inappropriate to make a generalisation, but I know a girl who opted for corporate development post-analyst stint so she could regain (a bit) of her life. She knew what private equity would mean for her lifestyle, even within the meatier middle market. The corporate development role would still see her nicely paid with room to grow, she wasn't overly interested in trying to pursue the most coveted path (be it private equity or alternative investments).

 
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Am a woman and currently a first year IB analyst, so wanted to chime in. I have thought about PE as a potential career path but having already had a brutal summer internship and getting worked pretty hard for the past couple of months, I don't think I would want to do PE for banking 2.0. I feel strongly about living a sustainable life, in terms of work life balance/stress levels, and I don't see this improving significantly if I continue in banking beyond my analyst years. A lot of my girl friends in banking share the same sentiment and have goals down the line, like getting married/having kids/building a family, that would be hard to sustain with the banking lifestyle and not being able to maintain a robust social life/relationship during your analyst years doesn't help much. I enjoy the work, but it's tough when you are already sleep deprived, tired, and low on energy - this is not sustainable at all. Some cultural aspects of banking also grinds my gears, especially some of the inefficiencies with comments, superficial pride of how many hours one works, and little visibility into upward mobility into higher level roles. I've noticed that some of my guy friends in banking are laser focused on money, which is fine, but I just don't resonate as much with that and value other things (family, health, relationships) as well and as much. Money comes and goes, but there are certain things in life that money can't buy - there is some truth behind this cliche.

 

Thanks for contributing your thoughts. It’s very helpful to hear a woman’s perspective. Would you say that your female peers who opt to go for private equity just don’t place as much value on those things (raising a family, balance, etc.) ? Or do they believe that they will be able to balance both?

Also, let’s say you do decide to go the PE route or maybe can share what you’ve seen from friends, is it more difficult to recruit as a woman given any biases and it being a “boys club”?

 
eazyyeezy:
Am a woman and currently a first year IB analyst, so wanted to chime in. I have thought about PE as a potential career path but having already had a brutal summer internship and getting worked pretty hard for the past couple of months, I don't think I would want to do PE for banking 2.0. I feel strongly about living a sustainable life, in terms of work life balance/stress levels, and I don't see this improving significantly if I continue in banking beyond my analyst years. A lot of my girl friends in banking share the same sentiment and have goals down the line, like getting married/having kids/building a family, that would be hard to sustain with the banking lifestyle and not being able to maintain a robust social life/relationship during your analyst years doesn't help much. I enjoy the work, but it's tough when you are already sleep deprived, tired, and low on energy - this is not sustainable at all. Some cultural aspects of banking also grinds my gears, especially some of the inefficiencies with comments, superficial pride of how many hours one works, and little visibility into upward mobility into higher level roles. I've noticed that some of my guy friends in banking are laser focused on money, which is fine, but I just don't resonate as much with that and value other things (family, health, relationships) as well and as much. Money comes and goes, but there are certain things in life that money can't buy - there is some truth behind this cliche.

Thank you for this thoughtful response, young lady. Hang in there during your analyst years. It will all be worth it in the end. You are building a foundation of knowledge that will serve you well for the rest of your career/life.

Now, can all the sanctimonious gender equality warriors go fuck off and stop vilifying the male gender and ruining society? Because this woman's response supports what every actual scientific study on this matter demonstrates: as a general rule men and women tend to have different priorities and attitudes because there are ineradicable differences between the sexes.

Women should have equal rights/opportunities as men and both sexes should be free to make their own choices. And given that, men and women, generally speaking, will tend to make different choices. It's called sexual dimorphism and it's ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom. It's not a "social construct" and it doesn't give a fuck about anybody's feelings or ideologies.

I am so fucking sick of agenda-driven radical leftists pretending to honestly wonder why 50% of Fortune 100 CEO's aren't women and arguing that it's all "patriarchal discrimination."

Last time I checked, the women I've dated are loving and nurturing and concerned with people's feelings (and God bless them because society NEEDS that!) whereas I have barn door shoulders and steel wool growing out of my face, and I spent my high school years entertaining myself by playing a sport where I violently tackled other people and received special helmet stickers from my male coaches for hits that were especially brutal.

People really need to go on Youtube and watch the Jordan Peterson interview with Cathy Newman that went viral and got like twelve million views. He is spot-fucking-on about the differences between the sexes, especially as it relates to differences in career outcomes.

"Now you's can't leave." -Sonny LoSpecchio
 

While I do see how there is discrimination against women and certain ethnicities in certain fields, I agree that it is not the main reason women don’t pursue such highly competitive paths and a large part of it is simply biological constructs. However, most corporations are incentivizing women (and men) through all kinds of initiatives now (promoting paid leave, return to work programs) that could offer a more flexible life, and yet women still opt for other career paths. Another point which nobody has brought up.. PE is just another 2 year program which offers a (similar but new) set of skills, at the end women are 26-27 years old and would still be able to hop off the train to pursue something else or focus on life/family, so why don’t more women don’t see this short period as an extension of their analyst stint as it could lead to more (less intense) career opportunities down the line? Just a thought.

Just watched the shorter version of that YouTube video and that lady is the biggest idiot I have ever seen...

 

Friend A: Non-Target > JP Morgan Leveraged Finance > PE Fund > Apple BD; 1) believe that marriage and having babies make her happy, 2) need to accommodate her husband's schedule, 3) feel too old that it is about time to have babies, and 4) realize that career success is not correlated to having a successful husband.

Friend B: Ivy > Regular Finance Job > BlackRock Asset Management > Started her own fundraising company; 1) don't see that she is getting promoted - stuck at VP role, 2) want more freedom, 3) capture more upside, and 4) be entrepreneur. Marry someone who went to non-target, not really that smart guy but was helping to start that company with her.

Friend C: Ivy > Consulting > PE > IBD > Emerging Market - Entrepreneur. 1) feel glass ceiling as a woman, 2) did not have the drive to actually do well at PE - she was mandated to start a new country fund but that failed terribly, 3) wanted to have more time and freedom to do entrepreneurial, and 4) want to capture more financial upside.

All of them are married but have no children as yet but they are all trying to have children. All of them as Asians who lived in US and UK.

The common link is that 1) the workload is too much of a burden to have kids, 2) career stalled at VP level mostly due to the fact that they weren't capable of i) covering new market, ii) signing new LPs on their own, iii) or successfully execute a new fund, 3) they seek better work and life balance and at their PE job - the hours didn't get better.

 

Lol. The scary part is, this is funny partly because it's not totally inconceivable, given the direction society has been heading the past several years. People have lost their grip on reality.

"Now you's can't leave." -Sonny LoSpecchio
 

It's just math.

IB doesn't have a lot of women to begin with. Of the few women that are in IB, some of them wouldn't be there without the special efforts that the banks make to hire women. So you have some women who are in IB on pure merit, and some who aren't. The latter group obviously doesn't go far in the PE process.

 

MM. The ones who stuck around including a female A2A basically felt like PE wasn’t the greener pastures people think (pay isn’t much better, hours aren’t that much better, you’ll probably get pushed out) and so many firms are 100% men. So they felt that if they wanted to stay in finance they might as well stay in banking. The ones who wanted to leave finance were the standard reasons: hours / lifestyle

 

From my knowledge there are more females in PE/making VP or MD in IB in Hong Kong than any other financial markets. Seems that Hong Kong is more open to females climbing the ladder, which is also kinda counter intuitive given traditional Asian culture definitely idealizes women being more domestic...

 

As a female IB analyst who recently accepted an offer in PE, I wanted to provide some color from experience.

  1. There are far fewer women in IB: No rocket science here – if you start with fewer women than men applying for IB, you’re necessarily going to have fewer women at the end of the analyst program. I work in an industry group at a MM IB, and am the only female banker in my group, period. I never looked for “diversity” when I was applying to IB jobs (although this is really important to other women looking to enter the industry), but I liked the group culture and I was excited about the position. I got lucky, and the group I ended up in has a great culture and I didn’t deal with any discrimination or harassment during my time here. However, THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR EVERY WOMAN. And if your experience in a male-dominated environment was challenging or disheartening, you would think twice before considering another male-dominated workplace. Compounding this – banks have actively looked to hire more women, and this can sometimes lead to a negative perception about the women who are in the industry. One of the things I hate most is when people assume I have a job in IB exclusively because I am a woman. I want to be judged for the quality of my work and the value I contribute, and sometimes there is a perception that women are not as qualified as their male counterparts due to affirmative IB hiring.

  2. The lifestyle is difficult for women with aspirations for a family: Sure, having one parent/spouse working long hours is doable, but what if both parents/spouses are working 70-80 hour weeks and traveling? Most of my girlfriends at this age are getting engaged, getting married and thinking about starting families. Dedicating your life to a career in high finance is not the most popular decision for women in their mid-20s. I don’t plan on having a family until later in my life, but even then I’m not sure how you manage pregnancy with a job in PE or while pursuing an MBA, let alone how to raise a child. Women in banking have had a taste of how unsustainable life is in IB, and the stress/time involved in following the traditional PE track is not always compatible with having a fulfilling family life.

  3. Not every PE fund is friendly to women: From my own personal recruiting experience, this issue stems from both sides. I interviewed at some funds that weren’t exactly welcoming to women. I was a top-bucket analyst every year. I had a very high GPA, high test scores, good deal experience and co-workers and clients who provided recommendations. At the end of my PE recruiting I had received multiple offers. But several firms still questioned my ability to work in a male-dominated environment. (1) I already work in a male-dominated environment, (2) I’m not stupid, I know PE is male-dominated (see #1), and (3) I have used google, and I can see from your website that you have no women in your firm and I STILL APPLIED. And, as I said before, I got lucky with the culture at my IB. I know other women in the industry did not have the same positive experience I did. Many of these women did not pursue PE for that reason.

That said, take this with a grain of salt - my story is different than a lot of women in the industry. My career is very important to me and for the most part, I enjoy what I do every day.

 

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