Was the financial crisis disproportionately hard on female executives?

To be sure, there was a lot of suffering by male and female executives and managers. The biggest casualties were the CEOs at the top of the marquee companies, like Merrill Lynch, Bank of America (BAC), Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. But the mythic "most powerful women on Wall Street" also flamed out: The likes of Zoe "the" Cruz "missile" of Morgan Stanley (MS) and Erin Callan of Lehman Brothers. Both were ousted by their bosses and one-time mentors.

More recently, Teresa A. Dial stepped down as head of its North American consumer banking unit. This drew a great deal of attention. But on the whole it's hard to say whether the gains made have been erased. We certainly hope that is not true. The New York Times notes that trading, traditionally a tough area for women, seems to be on the rise as a profit center. But that may be one of those transitory conclusions. We'll have to see what the industry looks like in a few years. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Top Women Shaping Wall Street
Indicator watch: HBS's jobs and Wall Street
Wall Street and the "shortage" of engineers
The most powerful women on Wall Street