Happy Monday!
Starting on the productivity front today, there was a great article by Alexandra Samuel on her personal journey to “tame the email beast.” Very worthwhile read with constructive steps we can all take to increase productivity: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-i-tamed-the-email-beast-at-work-1457921533
Last week, Christine Lagarde gave a compelling speech at Wellesley College pointing out that inequality is hurting economic growth. “If women played an identical role in the work world to that of men, global growth would skyrocket by over 25% by 2025.” The full article can be found here: http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/08/news/economy/christine-lagarde-inequality-is-sexist/
And the answer to more market stability? Adding more female traders to the desk. Read on: http://theconversation.com/more-female-traders-can-minimise-market-crashes-heres-how-55990 Which makes the next article more ironic. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, it was noted that hedge funds run by women have a harder time making it – due in part by the low level of media attention they get which in turn makes it harder for them to raise assets. The full article can be found here:http://www.wsj.com/articles/gender-bias-in-hedge-funds-1457321028
And another take on the same subject from Bloomberg aptly titled “Where Are the Women in Finance?” The full article can be found here: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-24/why-don-t-more-women-hold-top-jobs-in-finance
From the good news file, Texas A&M Cadet Corps, for the first time in its 140 year history, has elected a female commander. Huge congratulations to Alyssa Michalke! A friend of mine at the university also shared with me that the commander for next year is also a woman! The full article can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/us/female-firsts-corps-cadets-texas-am-feat/
Kudos to SXSW for their panel that is addressing online harassment of women in gaming – this harassment goes beyond the usual name calling and has “moved into the realm of violent threats and rampant misogyny.” As with any poor behavior, the most effective cure is bringing it into the light of day and have an industry correct its own behavior. The full article can be found here:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/14/technology/sxsw-addresses-online-harassment-of-women-in-gaming.html?_r=0
Lastly, from the Wall Street Journal a great article on how to actually fix gender bias in the workplace. The authors postulate that the time and money devoted to promoting diversity over past decades has largely been wasted and it is time for a different approach. Instead of trying to change the biases of individuals, we can turn our efforts to fixing the design of the institutions themselves. One example has transformed symphony orchestras in the US – when a curtain was added to shield auditioning musicians during tryouts, women were 50% more likely to advance to future rounds of tryouts. 50%! Today almost 40% of musicians at major American orchestras are female compared to the 1970’s, before the advent of curtains, when women made up 5-10% of orchestras. The full article can be found here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/real-fixes-for-workplace-bias-1457713338
I hope you will all join us on April 28th for TXWSW 7th annual State of the Markets event – we are thrilled and honored to have an all-star line-up of CIOs who will share their opinions on their market outlook. The panelists this year include Janet Handley, CIO of the Texas A&M Endowment, Katherine Nixon, CIO of Northern Trust, Carol McFate, CIO of Xerox Corporation and Paul Ballard, CIO of Texas Treasury Safekeeping & Trust Company. For our sponsor breakfast on April 29th, we will have secured the Editor of “The Daily Shot” and Danielle DiMartino Booth of Money Strong as our keynote speakers. Tickets are on sale and sponsorships are available. We thank you all for your continued support as we continue to grow and look forward to seeing you all soon!
Very kind regards
Christine
