Working Mom Jane Fraser Proves Women in Finance Can Have it All

There’s been some great news about women breaking the glass ceiling, as from 2021, Jane Fraser will take over as Citigroup CEO, becoming the first woman ever to become CEO of a major global bank. This comes after her 16-year tenure at the company, during which she ran its consumer bank, handled the strategy division and recently oversaw the bank's emergency pandemic response.

A Harvard Business Review study revealed that senior positions in venture capital and private equity, women hold just 6-9% of these roles. Women in finance have equal standing with their male counterparts at the start of their careers, and yet the C-suite is mostly taken over by men. So this is a huge step toward women’s empowerment because it really proves that women can do anything.

Cynthia DiBartolo, CEO of Tigress Financial Partners, said in a Bloomberg article that this has now become “an invitation to individuals who thought Wall Street was not for them or that they would never fit in. Diversity at CEO level on Wall Street has never existed before.” While this milestone is overdue, it still makes me so happy to see women - especially women in finance - being afforded the opportunity to step into their power in such a male-dominated industry.

I am so passionate about hearing this news, not only because I love to see women breaking the glass ceiling and crushing it, but because I am so familiar with this industry myself. Before becoming a finance mentor and investment coach, I worked in wealth management firms for 15 years, where many of my former clients were major investment bank clients from around the world. Despite being mostly surrounded by male colleagues, I still managed to triple my salary during my twenties and work my way up to VP in the Financial Technology investment management space.

I believe that women can do anything they set their minds to, but I do wonder sometimes, does something gotta give? Can we really have it all?

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Jane Fraser is a working mom and has said that her role as a parent has been far more challenging than that of a CEO. It’s amazing that she has gotten to where she is today as a woman in finance, given that being on the "mommy track" is often used to dismiss other working moms from roles as high as these. She has proven to the world that working moms can kill it in their careers just as much as dads. This Axios article says that she and her husband share childcare responsibilities, and explicitly states that he quit his job as Head of Global at Dresdner Kleinwort bank in order to “support her career.”

Would Jane Fraser be where she is today had her husband kept his job? I would like to think so, but it would be naive to ignore the expectation society holds on working mothers, in contrast to working fathers. Fraser has said she often felt "exhausted" and "guilty", even when she only worked part-time while raising her children when they were younger. But I’ll bet she’s feeling Beyonce-level confidence right now as she makes history, making a great example for women and girls everywhere!

As well as hard work and commitment, Jane Fraser likely got to where she is today by using her bad-ass negotiation skills to work her way up. And guess what? I’m running a Negotiation Masterclass on September 23rd with my friend and fellow money coach, Judy! We’ll be teaching you everything you need to know about negotiation, from cutting down your everyday expenses to getting bigger salaries and better promotions. Who knows, after this masterclass, you may be the next woman in the headlines making history?!