Postby millymoo » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:32 am
Hello Trinka,
Firstly, this is a really interesting thread and I applaud you for asking the question.
However, I think the brutal reality is that we are light years away from this materialising as the norm in many FO positions within investment banks. I believe there are several reasons for this:
1. It is more expensive for employers to set up and support this type of arrangement and given the current economic climate with many banks still into a 3 -5 year cost cutting (read redundancy) exercise this would be a tough business case to justify and there are plenty of men willing to work full time in your position.
2. You would presumably have to find another women to work in the job share as I don't think any men working in front office financial services would want to do this and in my exp. women who have come back post maternity into front office roles tough it out to compete alongside their male counterparts.
3. How would the clients and revenue be covered? 50/50 I presume, you would need to find someone likeminded who was happy with that arrangement.
4. Would you be happy to sideline your promotion and career ambitions? Despite what everyone says to the contrary, returners and part-timers do not get promoted, given more responsibility etc. (I have first hand exp of this) and most management positions on investment banks are held by men (a large majority of whom are with women who do not work) so there is a huge amount of unconscious bias towards women who do and the choices they have made. (I have had coments ranging from "but WHO looks after your children" to "is it really worth it, you can't be making any money" and "what does your husband think about you working?, I'm sure you don't really need to work" and "are you some kind of feminist making a point?") Yes, these are all true and would they ever be said to a man with a family?, errr no.
5. Yes, banks do have to improve their diversity quotas but this doesn't specifically have to be within a front office environment. Most of the senior women in my organisation do not sit in FO roles but in either COO, Business Support or other functions.
I think your best solution is to consider re-training in a different role with a) more friendly working culture and b) more open minded to different contributions that a working mum can bring to an organisation.
In terms of moving the agenda forward on this point and highlighting that we need a seismic shift in the attitudes towards women in this industry, can I suggest that you join some of the networks out there (CityWomen, Women in the City, City Mothers etc) as they are doing good work on lobbying to change views however I have to be honest and say that I am not sure anything significant is going to happen during my career lifetime (I would happily like to be proved wrong on this point!).
Good luck with finding the right balance and do PM me if you want to chat further.