im just wondering. is there discrimination in the field? coz i dont see many girls show up here

>> is there discrimination in the field? coz i dont see many girls show up here I suspect it's more a result of there being a social bais against women doing "hard" science degrees at 18. You dont see many here because there are less who enter the feeder degree progrmammes in Physics, Maths and Engineering.

>> is there discrimination in the field? coz i dont see many girls show up here I suspect it's more a result of there being a social bais against women doing "hard" science degrees at 18. You dont see many here because there are less who enter the feeder degree progrmammes in Physics, Maths and Engineering.

This is nothing specific to quantitative finance, I tend to find similar ratios of females in software engineering, cryptography, nuclear physics, and several other professions. If there were discrimination in this field, then presumably I would see many more CVs and interview appointments for female quants crossing my desk, but the supply just isn't there. I know the quant finance specific "feeder" programs (as are many other "hard" graduate programs) are trying to find ways to get more women into the field, and are having some success, but I hear they have trouble getting many women interested in applying.As a further stereotype, I do notice that the majority of women quants I see tend to be from the countries that have traditionally dominated technical graduate programs, mostly China, India, and Russia. I suppose a similarly interesting question is why there are so few western (male or female) quants. I do agree that Americans in particular are largely bad at math, and do not encourage girls to be all that much better at it.

I think it is a problem, primarily, of inheritance, where quant fin inherits the asymmetry in math and physics of academia.

I don't think it's only an "academic" problem (ie girls dont choose maths-related degrees)I applied to a few graduate programmes this year at IBs, and at each assessment center/interview day, there were lots of girls there, who had the same degrees as men, but all of them wanted to go into sales, IBD, ECM/DCM etc. I haven't seen a single one who wanted to be a trader.Same observation in my course, I'm the only girl heading into tradingNot sure why this is the case... Any opinions welcome Edit: I actually feel there are more female quants than female traders. Is that a wrong impression?

You could have a hundred phd's, but if your education leaves out one single fact it could ruin your whole life. That fact - for the benefit of you girls who have had it hidden from you - is that MEN AND WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT.You should try to find older girls who know this, and learn something from them...

QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19Edit: I actually feel there are more female quants than female traders. Is that a wrong impression?I have noticed the same thing.

QuoteOriginally posted by: bilcapis there discrimination in the field?If I were in such a position, I would be tempted to push a girl away from quanting, for the same reason I would attempt to prop up a tree in my yard if someone crashed a car into it.If there is discrimination against girls by employers, it is only because so many girls have been pushed into careers where they really don't belong. If some girl has been pushed by ugly 1960's feminists into throwing away 10 years of her life doing something she doesn't enjoy, then I am going to put my foot down. I would tell the girl "In a few years, you're going to wake up and realize that as a child you were taken advantage of, and used to advance their own agenda by people who hate the world." Would you hire a girl who is goign to "wake up" one day and say "I quit?"If I see a stalk of grass being pushed off it's natural path by a person who hates the world, I am going to push the other way unitl it's straight again. Feminists need to learn to leave girls alone. Young people have enough trouble learning their own strengths and weaknesses as individuals, and values and dreams and goals, without being misled at the beginning...

I guess what you care about is how many female quants are single.

I don't think that women have reached "critical mass" yet in the quant field. By that I mean there is a certain level, a certain population density that needs to be reached before suddenly women can network effectively and form discussion groups, etc.Once that critical mass is reached, then mentoring and outreach, etc become much more effective and suddenly it becomes much more comfortable for all involved.Matthew

QuoteOriginally posted by: mdubuqueI don't think that women have reached "critical mass" yet in the quant field.What, Adam didn't remove his rib until 1998?"My Life as a Quant" by Emanuel Derman was not written by a woman. He never even heard of quanting, he was a physicist. He did not get there by critical mass. There was not a time before men had critical mass, when women had an equal chance of becoming quants.You don't need critical mass. You need a desire to go into physics without even knowing there is such a thing as quanting. Men had critical mass 5,000 years ago, before there was farming. And women will never catch up, because all men will be women first.You, mdubuque, are misleading girls if you plant the idea that there can be some "girl network" as a substitute for phd's in phsyics. Sure, there can be a girl network, but they won't be called "quants."Do you see quants networking? There are 18-year-old telemarketers at the local auto-mechanic college who network better than these people.

QuoteOriginally posted by: farmerYou could have a hundred phd's, but if your education leaves out one single fact it could ruin your whole life. That fact - for the benefit of you girls who have had it hidden from you - is that MEN AND WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT.You should try to find older girls who know this, and learn something from them...Men and women are not different, at least concerning their ability to do maths or programming, or to succeed in IBs.Only their education has been.Of course if girls "learn from older girls" and live like their grandmothers did, the proportion of women on trading floors won't increase too much, which you apparently won't regret.I'm not expecting any kind of positive discrimination, girl networking or whatever, but I have to say I'm still amazed at this sort of reaction.QuoteOriginally posted by: farmerAnd women will never catch up This one is so ridiculous, that I am now wondering if by any chance, you were actually joking

>> You should try to find older girls who know this, and learn something from them... Clearly this is your personal recipe for success.TROLL ALERT!!!

QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19Men and women are not different, at least concerning their ability to do maths or programmingThis is wrong. You have been lied to. In any case, you are an individual, not a "woman."QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19which you apparently won't regret.Funny, someone tells you the truth, and you assume he has ill will towards you.QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19I'm still amazed at this sort of reaction.You're "amazed" because you are missing information, and so you must come up with an unsatisfactory explanation. But I always react this way to nonsense, it's pretty simple.QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19you were actually jokingI'd bet a million bucks on what I said. Because 1) I don't see women as being "behind" in the first place, 2) the roles of both men and women are a moving target (with men needing to do more moving, especially in places like Iraq), and 3) why should one try to be like the other? Are you eager to aim for what men did 100 years ago? Why don't you become an auto mechanic?Historically, secretaries have been more often married to laborers, whereas housewives have been more often married to lawyers. I would think "equality" would involve becoming more like your husband. In the movie "9 to 5," were the men in Dolly Parton's life middle managers? No, they were "cowboys."More women in the United States got advanced degrees and participated in the workforce in the 1920's than in the 1950's. This might have had something to do with the latter statistics reflecting a higher proportion of the children of recent immigrants. But it is worth noting that women were pulled into the workforce during the War, while college-aged men were being slaughtered.But in any case, the role of women was never a conscious design on part of anybody. It is great that women are content to be worker ants in the sciences, since it will get us off this planet sooner. But the roles should evolve to fit women, rather than women being crammed artificially into some preconception.