Maureen Sherry's novel,Opening Belle, released this week, tackles the subject with a more charming and madcap sensibility -- one that includes tantric sex, a jilted bride and jokes about inappropriate footwear. The New York Times called it 'breezy.' Amovie based on the book and possibly starring Reese Witherspoon is in the works. Sherry, who was a managing director at Bear Stearns in the 1990s, told The Huffington Post that if more women had been running things on the Street in the runup to the financial crisis, the crash could have been prevented. 'It's not even a discussion anymore,' she said. Sherry left Bear Stearns in 2000, eight years before it fell apart. She spoke to HuffPost by phone from New York, where she lives with her husband, who works in private equity, and four kids. Your novel's main character, Belle, gets a $3 million annual bonus. Is that what you were pulling in at Bear Stearns? No. In your early 20s, you're just happy to have a job. I loved the markets and the trading floor atmosphere. As you get more senior, the pay disparity, the accounts being unequally distributed becomes more apparent. It bothered me. The little frat boy jokes stuff was a constant drumbeat. It didn't get to me that much. As I got into my 30s, I was bothered more by seeing young women come who were talented and leave because of the environment. You wrote in TheNew York Timesthat a guy at Bear Stearns actually drank your breast milk on a dare. Simon and Schuster It shows they realize it's been a problem. Banks are struggling with this. These are jobs that are typically not that balanced. You end up with miserable investment bankers. That's not really what a workplace should be. Why set your novel in 2008, long after you left the Street? Then you get people in trouble, you're naming names. That's not what I set out to do. This takes it on a bigger scale. The New York Times called your book 'chick lit.' What do you think of that? Read more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Ex-Banker Says Sexism Fueled The Financial Crisis
1/1 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)