Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction. Wall Street Women  1

1. Beginnings  27

2. Careers, Networks, and Mentors  66

3. Gendered Discourses of Finance  95

4. Women's Politics and State-Market Feminism  120

5. Life after Wall-Street  136

6. Market Feminism, Feminizing Markets, and the Financial Crisis  155

Notes  175

Bibliography  201

Index  217

“Fisher . . . combines the detached curiosity of an anthropologist studying the folkways of a tribal village with a sure grasp of history, politics, and economics, as well as an affectionate regard for her subjects, a small group of highly successful women who entered Wall Street in the ’60s.”—Publishers Weekly

“Extensively researched and thoroughly documented, this portrait of a pioneering generation of women provides context for understanding the emergent discourse of feminizing markets. Strongly recommended for readers interested in business anthropology or gender studies, particularly
for gendered discourses of finance and the female financial elite.”—Rebekah Wallin, Library Journal

“Fisher shows how women who made it on Wall Street deftly deployed their supposedly innate risk-averse qualities to stay afloat long term. . . . [W]e get the pleasure of hearing conversations that normally take place behind closed doors. When the women dish about the guys in the office, they really dish.”—Elizabeth Dwoskin, Bloomberg Businessweek

“[A] well-researched and enlightening account. . . . Ethnographers in all fields can also benefit from Fisher’s approach, which consists of a combination of individual interviews, observation of and participation in association meetings where the women networked, and a final group discussion.”—Maria Siano, ForeWord Reviews

“While there is no shortage of voices that bemoan the continuing gender inequality on contemporary Wall Street, Wall Street Women allows readers to understand just how far women have come in recent decades. Though this does not excuse the lack of women in the corner office, at least it allows us to take a break from the hand wringing over the subject and appreciate the accomplishments of some unsung heroes of the slow but steady feminization of finance.”—Terrence Murray, The Financialist

“Wall Street Women serves not only as an helpful reminder of women’s struggles and successes, but also as an enlightening depiction of changes—and continuing challenges—in a part of the business world often seen as mysterious at best and oppressive at worst. Indeed, the material Fisher gleans through ethnographic and archival research establishes the importance of her project, even if the book raises troubling questions about the compromises that women continue to make in the name of success, and about the nature of high finance itself.”—Megan Brown, Reviews in Cultural Theory

“[W]ell-argued and superbly researched. . . . Fisher’s in-depth case study of a Wall Street women’s cohort adds ethnographic specificity to the typically cross-societal literature on market feminism.”—Alexandra Michel, Administrative Science Quarterly

“Fisher presents a world to us that taps into a current public interest in women pioneers in business, is methodologically innovative, is theoretically rich, and is ethnographically vital in understanding how to move forward as both gendered and market-engaged persons in the post–financial crisis world.”—Sarah A. Tobin, American Ethnologist

“Wall Street Women is an interesting description of the commercial and class
structures in which a set of women were instrumental in reducing, however partially, the dominance of men in finance.”—James G. Carrier, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“Melissa Fisher has written a fascinating, fresh, and accessible account of the pioneering women who started careers on Wall Street in the 1960s and 1970s and established themselves as successful financial professionals. . . . This book offers a readable ethnography that would be a valuable course adoption in both undergraduate and graduate courses on social aspects of finance or gender and labor markets.”—Louise Marie Roth, American Journal of Sociology

“Fisher . . . combines the detached curiosity of an anthropologist studying the folkways of a tribal village with a sure grasp of history, politics, and economics, as well as an affectionate regard for her subjects, a small group of highly successful women who entered Wall Street in the ’60s.”—Publishers Weekly

“Extensively researched and thoroughly documented, this portrait of a pioneering generation of women provides context for understanding the emergent discourse of feminizing markets. Strongly recommended for readers interested in business anthropology or gender studies, particularly
for gendered discourses of finance and the female financial elite.”—Rebekah Wallin, Library Journal

“Fisher shows how women who made it on Wall Street deftly deployed their supposedly innate risk-averse qualities to stay afloat long term. . . . [W]e get the pleasure of hearing conversations that normally take place behind closed doors. When the women dish about the guys in the office, they really dish.”—Elizabeth Dwoskin, Bloomberg Businessweek

“[A] well-researched and enlightening account. . . . Ethnographers in all fields can also benefit from Fisher’s approach, which consists of a combination of individual interviews, observation of and participation in association meetings where the women networked, and a final group discussion.”—Maria Siano, ForeWord Reviews

“While there is no shortage of voices that bemoan the continuing gender inequality on contemporary Wall Street, Wall Street Women allows readers to understand just how far women have come in recent decades. Though this does not excuse the lack of women in the corner office, at least it allows us to take a break from the hand wringing over the subject and appreciate the accomplishments of some unsung heroes of the slow but steady feminization of finance.”—Terrence Murray, The Financialist

“Wall Street Women serves not only as an helpful reminder of women’s struggles and successes, but also as an enlightening depiction of changes—and continuing challenges—in a part of the business world often seen as mysterious at best and oppressive at worst. Indeed, the material Fisher gleans through ethnographic and archival research establishes the importance of her project, even if the book raises troubling questions about the compromises that women continue to make in the name of success, and about the nature of high finance itself.”—Megan Brown, Reviews in Cultural Theory

“[W]ell-argued and superbly researched. . . . Fisher’s in-depth case study of a Wall Street women’s cohort adds ethnographic specificity to the typically cross-societal literature on market feminism.”—Alexandra Michel, Administrative Science Quarterly

“Fisher presents a world to us that taps into a current public interest in women pioneers in business, is methodologically innovative, is theoretically rich, and is ethnographically vital in understanding how to move forward as both gendered and market-engaged persons in the post–financial crisis world.”—Sarah A. Tobin, American Ethnologist

“Wall Street Women is an interesting description of the commercial and class
structures in which a set of women were instrumental in reducing, however partially, the dominance of men in finance.”—James G. Carrier, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“Melissa Fisher has written a fascinating, fresh, and accessible account of the pioneering women who started careers on Wall Street in the 1960s and 1970s and established themselves as successful financial professionals. . . . This book offers a readable ethnography that would be a valuable course adoption in both undergraduate and graduate courses on social aspects of finance or gender and labor markets.”—Louise Marie Roth, American Journal of Sociology

"Melissa Fisher's Wall Street Women introduces us to a feminist world that we can hardly imagine. As they dream of changing the hostile domain of finance, women find themselves drawing on traditional notions of gender equality and coaching each other in old-fashioned survival skills. Written in enticing prose, Wall Street Women offers us an illuminating peek into a wholly unexpected fusion of feminism with the market."—Alice Kessler-Harris, author of A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman

"Detecting gendering in high finance is a long-standing challenge—it is a domain inhospitable to the main categories of feminist analysis. Melissa S. Fisher goes at it with gusto and gives us a great book."—Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights

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