The WOMEN-omics Special Report on the Credit Crunch - Building Gender Balanced Business

The credit crunch has sent shock waves around the world and many nations are preparing for tough times ahead. The events of September-October 2008, in which US and European banks and other financial institutions had to be bailed out by Government, happened at breakneck speed to the horror of many observers around the world.

A period of low interest rates and light regulation in the ‘dark’ financial markets created an enormous bubble. Some ‘experts’ believed the markets would cope with the new complexity of highly leveraged and opaque financial products in the derivatives market and regulate itself through the market system. This proved very wrong.

Back in 1997, Brooksley Born, the Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Association in the United States asked Congress to legislate more regulation and transparency of the fast-growing derivatives market, a plea that was rejected by the then head of the Fed, Alan Greenspan and the US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Was it a coincidence that the person calling for better governance in this testosterone-fuelled high-risk market was a woman?

The whole affair raises some uncomfortable questions about whether the mess was created largely by men? It cannot be known for sure but there are indications that a greater influence by women may have acted as a brake on the excessive risk-taking behaviour of the past. This question is posed by
Anne Hornung-Soukup, co-founder of Axia Investments SA in an excellent analysis of the financial crisis.

This view is supported by Anna Cecilie Holst, who has 26 years experience in the financial and venture/start-up industry and is currently a board director on several companies. She says: “Basically by nature, women are more risk averse. I don’t think Lehman Sisters would have taken the same risks as Lehman Brothers.”

The WOMEN-omics Special Report on the Credit Crunch looks at the financial crisis from the perspective of women, offering their views and perceptions of the crash and the uncertain future we all face.

They are generally optimistic, as much as anyone can be in present times. One such voice is Georgia Garinois, President of Beauty Care Strategy and New Growth, Johnson & Johnson who suggests various ways in which managers can act now to preserve jobs and pave the way for future growth.

We have also included an article that looks into the future beyond the crisis by Josephine Green, Senior Director of Trends & Strategy at Philips Design. It is included because it presents a compelling alternative view of the future, in which we manage things in a more sustainable and less materialistic way. The talents women would bring naturally to such a world make them a key part of its success, argues Green.

Interview with Georgia Garinois, President, Beauty Care Strategy and New Growth, Johnson & Johnson

Interview with Anna Cecilie Holst, Board Director and Financial Analyst

We need more women in charge by Anne Hornung-Soukup, Co-Founder of Axia Investments SA

Interview with Dr Barbara Casu Lukac, Banking Expert, Cass Business School

Heralding a new century of change by Josephine Green, Senior Director of Trends and Strategy, Philips Design

Women can help rebuild capitalism by Alison Maitland, writer, speaker and co-author of Why Women Mean Busines: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution

Gillian Tett: Reporting on the financial crisis

Carolyn McCall joins board of Lloyds TSB

Women clean up the financial mess

Diversity at Banks Brings Higher Profit

How Women Can Be Master Bankers, Especially With Singaporean Advantages

Women Report Strong Growth in Companies They Head

Iceland Asks 2 Women to Fix Men’s Banking Fiasco

US Banker’s Top 25 Women in Banking