You don't need to be Deborah Tannen — the socio-linguist who has pioneered studies on how the genders think and communicate differently — to understand that Wall Street is a man's world, even if some women happen to work there. Taking risks to "show off" to your buddies, not listening to others, competing for who has the biggest everything— that's all typical male behavior.
Despite all the praise the Obama administration receives virtually on an hourly basis, what's striking is how little it has done to shake up the old-boy network of the financial world. From Geithner to Summers to Rahm Emmanuel — said to be the point man for Obama economic policy — this administration is still pretty much a tree-house club with the NO GIRLS ALLOWED sign. The men who were all wrong in the first place got the key jobs again. The women were the real heroes. Start listening to them and we might finally have some change we can believe in.
To read the "Stark Ravings" blog, go to thePhoenix.com/blogs/starkravings. Steven Stark can be reached at sds@starkwriting.com.
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