Finance is no place for girls?

My father was a pretty progressive man. He treated me the same as he did my brother. He encouraged me to wear, study and work whatever and wherever I wanted. He confided in me about his business dealings, in case I was interested in following his footsteps into business. But when time came to choose, he tried to nudge me into medicine…maybe it was just a sign of the times (when smart boys and girls were pushed into being engineers and doctors respectively) or there not being many career options.

I vaguely remember telling him I liked the sound of being a stockbroker, around the time Harshad Mehta appeared on the cover of a leading magazine. Imagine my surprise at his response - ‘finance is no place for girls!’

As it turned out, I did get into finance. Partly, because I had really enjoyed studying economics for my bachelor of arts degree, and partly, because I wanted to understand how to make money (I was broke when he passed away). 

The first thing I did was to get out of India and get a job-without-salary as a financial adviser, using my work experience in sales. I also signed up for a graduate diploma in applied finance and investments, just to check out the field.

I had no clue what stockbrokers actually did, so I clarified it by walking up to the lecturer at the first class. He encouraged me to speak more people in the finance industry to get a feel for various careers available in finance. Remember, back in 1993, I couldn’t just google it, (although judging by the questions on Quora, millenials still don’t). Anyhow, I heard a range of industry practitioners as they volunteered to lecture for the course over the subsequent two years. Combined with the course syllabus, I learnt a lot about the various parts of the finance industry.

I finally concluded that far from being no place for girls, it was the perfect place for them. I could see the wholistic role finance plays in the functioning of the world. If only I could combine my idealism with the prevailing capitalism, the world would be a better place. (I continue to be interested in responsible and impact investing, apart from financial education).

I narrowed down my career choice to fund research and investment consulting, but even then, I wanted to speak to people at the top of their game to get a feel before I made my final decision. So I simply wrote to them and offered them a cup of coffee in exchange for half an hour of their time. (I got three responses out of ten requests, and eventually a job offer). So basically, it took me two years and a course to land a paying job in finance.

A couple of years later, I wanted to prove my knowledge and commitment to my boss (and to myself). So I pursued the CFA charter when it was relatively unknown outside the US. I’ve been a CFA member since 1999.

Times have changed since then. Today, you can attend a career day and read interviews with industry leaders. Well, you missed the career day (because it was yesterday in Mumbai), but you can always read the CFA Career Guide. CFA Institute has global, regional and local editions – the first Indian guide got released yesterday. I encourage you to download and share with anyone who’s considering a career in finance.

I hope the CFA India Career Guide helps you to figure out for yourself, and quicker than I did, whether you want a career in finance.

As an aside, while participating in one of the panel discussions last night, I noticed I was the only woman across all panels. Some young women came up to me afterwards and asked me about what’s it like to still be one of very few women in the industry in India. I will write about this topic separately, but in the meantime, I just want to share that I started a LinkedIn group – Women in Finance (India) – to help with knowledge sharing and networking. 

I am happy to have proven my father wrong. I am sure he would have liked me to.