Is Wall Street still a man’s territory?

According to Cari Lynn, journalist and author of Leg the Spread: A Woman’s Adventure Inside the Trillion-Dollar Boys’ Club of Commodities Trading, it is.

Lynn spent a year on the “floor,” learning the ropes, and researching her book. She was interviewed by Stocks & Commodities Magazine for their May 2006 issue.

She says:

“It takes a special kind of woman to survive in the pits. There is a whole spectrum of women on the trading floor. It is certainly no secret that there are many women who are there because there are a lot of men and a lot of money. Then on the opposite end of that spectrum are the women who really lost all femininity. Unfortunately, both these types were often held in low esteem by the male traders. So somewhere in the delicate middle are the really successful women traders. It takes a lot of savvy for a woman to find success on the floor. You have to know yourself, and go in there with a good head on your shoulders and a strong sense of self to make it. Just knowing how to trade isn’t enough.”

Does she plan to continue trading?

No, she has other plans:

“Trading really sucks a lot out of you. I learned that my mind doesn’t work that way. I can’t tolerate that kind of risk.”

Does this mean women should avoid being traders?

Not according to Gail Osten, in her 2004 article in Stocks, Futures and Options Magazine: “What Can Male Traders Learn from Successful Women… and Vice Versa.”

She believes that perhaps it’s easier for women to enter the field now that more trading is done virtually. According to Osten, women tend to benefit from right-brained visual thinking, curiosity and a lack of fear about asking questions.

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