She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street

This book sets out to tell the story of “the female pioneers of Wall Street, its original She-Wolves, . . . who arrived at the same moment the women’s movement was starting.” Paulina Bren quotes the Philip Morris tobacco company’s Virginia Slims slogan of 1968, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” as a marker of the start of the women’s movement. She notes that this tagline was used “up until the 1990s” and that this roughly 30-year period is the time span covered in her book which however also poses the question, “Have you come a long way, baby”?

These messages from her prologue presage many of the recurring problems of this book, which include a persistent vagueness about the dates and content of the women’s movement in America.

It would have been interesting to show more detail of the context in different decades in the wider world of American feminism, and to reflect a bit more on whether or not, and if not why not, the movement was at all interesting or useful to the She-Wolves. It is notable that feminism is mentioned with disdain by at least a couple of wolves who found it prudent to align themselves with their male bosses.

A slightly stronger contextual analysis starts to emerge in Chapter 8 but by then some readers will have given up the struggle to follow the story.

It is not clear where the designation “She-Wolves” comes from, and whether they used that title themselves. And what are the distinctive characteristics of She-Wolves? Are they supposed to hunt in a pack?

Overall, this publication is quite loose on dates and chronology, both in the text and in the Postscript, where the She-Wolves are (finally) listed. To take just one example, Alice Jarcho who appears early and repetitively throughout the text, listed as “the first woman to trade full-time on the floor” has no clear tenure. And a chapter further on it is demonstrated that she is not such a pioneer anyway, as the real female pioneers appeared in the second half of the 1800s.

While Bren has clearly gathered some rich material, and much of it first-hand, notably the details of the routine sexual harassment both physical and verbal, the poor structuring and confused chronology make this a difficult read. This is a great pity as the topic seems to coincide with the emerging themes and attitudes of the new American Administration.

Despite the fact that the publication is stronger on description than on analysis, very few of the She-Wolves emerge as distinct characters in this narrative and are often listed apparently randomly as well as repetitively in and across individual chapters. This treatment makes it difficult for the reader to engage with the struggle they were undoubtedly experiencing.

Whilst the author is clearly very familiar with the hierarchy of the NYSE and its relationship with associated institutions, she should not assume so much knowledge in her reader who may find it hard to appreciate individual struggles without a clearer picture of the employment structure. Until approximately pages 132–133 when a picture of the Stock Exchange and those who inhabit it is painted, the reader is kept in much the same ignorance as the debutante She-Wolves struggling to understand processes such as “arbitrage.”

Stronger individual case studies, along with a clearer focus on gender equality issues—unfair hiring practices, unequal pay, parenting practices, and of course gender-based harassment—would have helped to structure this narrative and drive the points home.

Bren has also not been well-served by her editor(s). Overall, the style is lazy and clichéd.

She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street is a potentially exciting story, which remains “untold.”