Goldman Sachs: The Gender Disparity Problem

Goldman Sachs, a well-known leading global investment firm worth around $126 billion, has seen recent outward success. However, internal bitterness within the firm has become more and more apparent. Many women continue to quit their jobs there under the claims of unequal pay bias towards men and little scope for getting a higher-ranking job.

Goldman Sachs’ ‘Solution’

Goldman Sach’s solution to this problem is to improve its hiring quality and ‘eradicate’ any bias that an interviewer may have. However, the problem is that after women undertake a job at Goldman Sachs, the prejudice emerges. They struggle more than men to earn promotions and develop their careers. 40% of the employees of S&P 1500 companies are women, yet only 6% are CEO’S.

Goldman Sachs clearly know the problem isn’t in hiring. Many think they are just ‘skirting’ the gender prejudice regarding women already working for the company. Goldman Sachs revealed that the mean hourly pay gap between men and women was 53.2%. Women must work four years longer than men to overcome this pay gap.

Lawsuit in 2023

In 2023, after a thirteen year long struggle from Goldman Sachs employees, Goldman Sachs had to pay a fine of £215 million. This was the third largest gender related lawsuit in history. The fine was distributed to over 2800 female vice presidents and associates. The class action settlement saw each plaintiff receive $47,000 and nearly $71.7M to the plaintiff’s lawyers. However, Goldman Sachs denied any wrongdoing when paying the settlement, so many still think the fight for equal rights continues.

Current Events following the Lawsuit

Recently, many senior women have also been leaving the Wall Street Firm. They claimed that although they had senior jobs, prejudice in the workplace was still highly prevalent. Stephanie Cohen, a well-known and popular senior executive at the firm, is just one of many who have left, leaving to become the Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudflare. Beth Hammack, the next likely CFO pick, recently left after 30 years of dedication. She has pledged to ‘elevate more women into top management’ according to Bloomberg. Two thirds of all female partners at the firm since 2018 have left the firm, according to a study conducted by the Wall Street Journal.

Image of Beth Hammack- Sourced from: Bloomberg

Although a problem in many firms, gender prejudice is especially significant at Goldman Sachs. Even after undergoing multiple lawsuits (they were also sued in 2010), they still appear to be driving their women employees out.

All Images Belong to Copyright Holders

Cover Image-The Financial Times

To read more of our finance articles, visit:

To learn about how you can make easy money from crowdfunding, visit:

https://www.thepoliticsoutlook.com/hrishi/5-benefits-of-crowdfunding/357/