Despite all the progress in the quarter century since the term “glass ceiling” was coined, the phenomenon persists—and nowhere more so than in the most sought-after sectors of finance. My research on private equity, real estate, and venture capital firms shows that the percentage of female senior investment professionals in those sectors is stuck in the single digits. That’s true even though women account for 35% to 40% of business school graduates and express the same degree of interest in finance careers that men do when they start their programs.
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.
