Story 90

The “boys’ club” culture at Citi isn’t just alive—it’s thriving, and it’s suffocating talented women every day.

But here’s the harder truth many of us whisper in private: some of the most painful enablers aren’t the men at the top. They’re the senior women who climbed the ladder, got a seat at the table… and then pulled the ladder up behind them.

I’ve watched too many female leaders in Equities (and beyond) master the art of surface-level allyship. They host the women’s lunches, the coffee chats, the occasional 1:1 check-ins. They smile for the diversity photos and say all the right things about “empowering women.” Yet when it counts—when a woman is overlooked for promotion, paid less for the same work, dismissed, belittled, or subjected to degrading comments—they go silent. Or worse: they tell you to “suck it up,” “brush it off,” “don’t make waves,” or “that’s just how it is here.” None of them care because they are already there – and they are so scared of being stripped off of their six figure bonuses, executive treatments, and fame.

It’s the gaslighting that hurts most. The quiet message that survival means conformity. That real advocacy is too risky when your own position feels fragile. So they join the club—not out of malice, perhaps, but out of self-preservation. “If you can’t beat them, join them” becomes the unspoken rule for too many.

And when the culture is this rotten, gender alone doesn’t guarantee change. We have a female CEO at Citi, yet fresh allegations of sexual harassment by the same powerful male executive keep surfacing in the news, and the response from the top remains inadequate. Protection of the status quo trumps protection of the women who report it.

At this point, it doesn’t matter if the gatekeeper is male or female. A rotten system rewards rotten behavior—ego, pride, self-interest, and broken confidence dressed up as “toughness.” What we desperately need are sane, courageous individuals—of any gender—who will actually fight for fairness, hold people accountable, and prioritize the firm’s integrity and clients over personal power games.

This isn’t about tearing down women who’ve survived a brutal environment. It’s about refusing to let survival become complicity. It’s about demanding better—for ourselves, for each other, and for the next generation of women who deserve a workplace that doesn’t force them to choose between their dignity and their career.

If you’ve experienced this, witnessed it, or refused to play along—your voice matters here. Share your story. Women’s real experiences on Wall Street should be heard, not sanitized. Together, we can expose the truth and push for the change that performative programs never deliver.