http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/women-sue-goldman-claiming-bias-in-pay-and-jobs/?scp=3&sq=goldman&st=cse
On September 15th of this year, three former Goldman Sachs female employees filed a lawsuit against their prior employer on the grounds that the firm “systematically discriminates against its women employees” (Lattman). The lawsuit claims that Goldman intentionally pays and promotes its male employees more than females. The number of women in positions of power at the company quickly declines as ones moves up the corporate ladder. Goldman spokesman, Lucas van Praag, has already responded to the lawsuit by saying they, “believe this suit is without merit. People are critical to our business, and we make extraordinary efforts to recruit, develop and retain outstanding women professionals” (Lattman). This lawsuit, however, is not the first instance in which women have sued for gender discrimination in the investment banking industry. Three female Bank of America Merrill Lynch investment advisers sued the company for an alleged gender bias back in March as well as in 2004, Morgan Stanley paid $54 million to settle accusations that it had denied women promotions and raises and purposefully excluded them from company events. These lawsuits clearly emphasize the reality that even though many women are currently portrayed by the media as having succeeded in most top professional industries, they are still being discriminated against and treated unequally in the workplace.
Chen-Oster, one of the three women filing the lawsuit, gave a vivid account of how she was encouraged to attend a celebration of a male coworker’s promotion at a NYC strip club. At the end of the night, a male coworker escorted her to her boyfriend’s apartment and proceeded to aggressively pin her against a wall, groping and kissing her. The male colleague then reported the incident to his adviser the next day, resulting in increased hostility and marginalization for Chen-Oster at the firm. Ms. Orlich, another woman filing the lawsuit, claims to be purposefully not invited to frequent golf outings with her male coworkers due to her gender. She also describes how a managing director hired “scantily clad female escorts wearing Santa hats to attend a holiday party” (Lattman). All three women assert that they are paid and promoted less than their male peers because of their gender. Not only are these three women filing a lawsuit against a company for discriminating females’ pay and promotions on the base of gender, they also allege physical and mental abuse both inside and outside of the workplace. As Susan Douglas describes in the introductory chapter of her book Enlightened Sexism, the media has simply given us “fantasies of power” (Douglas, 5), or illusions of the female gender’s success and progress in today’s society. Many people now claim that women’s liberation has been accomplished and that women really can do anything and be anything they want because of these fantasies. The media has convinced us to “believe that any woman can become a CEO (or president), that women have achieved economic, professional, and political parity with men” (Douglas, 5). Women might be able to have jobs in the top levels of major banks on Wall Street in industries such as Investment Banking and on the Trading floor of the NY Stock Exchange; however they are still being discriminated against with regards to payment, promotions and general office environment.
Women can be doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, CEOs, or politicians; however their paths to these positions are still much more difficult and longer than men’s. Further, even once these women have “made it”, they still face enormous obstacles related to gender discrimination. These three female Goldman Sachs employees were all perceived by the world as having successfully worked their way up to positions of power and status in the financial field, but as the lawsuit clearly shows, they still were not in any way treated equally to their male counterparts. The entire lawsuit document has been released and an article on BusinessInsider.com describes “The Craziest 15 Ways Women Say They Were Harassed At Goldman Sachs”. The title of this article largely shows the extent to our society still thinks negatively of women in the workplace. Not only does the word “craziest” imply that the women are not taken seriously, it also suggests that these women’s allegations are unfounded. The title also insinuates that since women simply “say” that they were harassed, their word cannot necessarily be taken as the truth. These examples of harassment range from the previously mentioned strip club incident to disparities in pay between genders to being given generally administrative and secretarial tasks that were not given to men in the same positions at the bank. This lawsuit, however, probably will have little to no real effect on the financial world with regards to treatment of female employees. As Allan Johnson describes in his article “Patriarchy, the System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us”, patriarchy is a system of values that we all maintain. Patriarchy is a “set of deeply ingrained beliefs, symbols and ideas about men and women and humanity that both permeate and structure our culture” (Simonsen 9/21 class notes). Since our society tends to value male characteristics more highly than female ones, society has a deeply ingrained preferential treatment of males that cannot be easily fixed or changed.
In the comments section of the NYTimes.com one read responds by saying, “well, this is no shock. These firms are old boys clubs and their arrogance makes them think they are above the law; the smartest guys in the universe” (NYTimes.com). The lack of shock associated with this lawsuit clearly shows society’s continuing perception of females’ role in the workplace. If women were really equal to men as the media tries to show, this lawsuit would be appalling to every reader. If the genders of the lawsuit were switched (men suing women for gender discrimination), the lawsuit would undeniably be much more shocking. If men and women were really equal, any lawsuit of this kind should be shocking since equality between genders requires respect on both sides. This lawsuit shows an inherent lack of respect of the men involved in their treatment of women in the workplace.
Goldman Sach’s response to this lawsuit gives interesting credibility to allegations of their creating an evidently sexist workplace. Lucas van Praag, who commented on behalf of Goldman, claimed that this suit is without merit and pointed out that Goldman Sachs makes concerted efforts to hire female employees. This comment, however, simply serves to silence the voices of the women who have chosen to speak out against the discrimination they faced. van Praag insists that Goldman Sachs makes “extraordinary efforts to recruit, develop and retain outstanding women professionals” (Lattman); however if they really are taking these steps, why would women be leaving the firm as they advance into more powerful positions? Another comment made by a reader of this NYTimes article responds by saying “can’t these ladies just lighten up?” (NYTimes.com). Despite women’s apparent ability to advance to positions of power in most of today’s top industries, they are still faced with double standards both in and out of the workplace. Women should not have to be encouraged to “lighten up” in the face of a serious gender discrimination case such as this one. Instead of simply dismissing the charges, maybe Goldman Sachs should look into the issue and actually attempt to make appropriate changes in their offices to make a more equal and female friendly work environment. Their “extraordinary efforts” obviously are not effective enough considering the unhappiness of numerous female employees combined with the declining number of women in top positions.
This lawsuit should be viewed as a wake-up call to everyone. Even though women have been able to maintain and advance their presence in the workplace, the expectations of their obedience and complacency to men still exist. The sentiment now seems to be growing that women can go to college, work for a few years after graduation but eventually settle down and raise children at home. Companies like Goldman Sachs try, or claim to try, to hire impressive and extraordinary young women out of college; however it is primarily assumed that these women work for only a few years before getting married and having kids or leaving to work in a less demanding field. Women clearly are still not being treated equally in today’s society despite the media’s portrayal otherwise. As Douglas says on the front cover of her book, too many people have given in to the “seductive message that feminism’s work is done”. This idea must be rejected before all people are able to work together to achieve actual equality both in and out of the workplace.
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