This is really interesting because I've worked on Wall Street as well and I know exactly what you mean but have never really been able to articulate the difference you've just pointed out. Working on Wall Street I had lots of male friends, not just colleagues. For the most part I felt included and was treated as competent. I also dealt with a fair amount of sexual harassment. Most of it was under the guise of joking/"locker room talk" that I just ignored. Sometimes, particularly from the older men, it was more physical and made me feel very uncomfortable.
The allegations against Google actually really caught me off guard because, in my experience, a lot of men in Silicon Valley seem like they're almost too... progressive (if that's the right word) to overtly harass their female peers the way men on Wall Street sometimes do. On the other hand I really struggle with inclusion in tech in a way that I never did in finance. I often feel dismissed by my tech colleagues. Both personally and professionally. Experiencing that sort of divide is much more difficult to explain and, to your point, much more difficult for me to navigate. Not to diminish women who have been sexually harassed at work, I'm one of them, but this silent divide takes a much bigger toll on me personally.
It’s simple - either people act however they want, or they watch their behavior. In the former they develop stronger bonds with each other. In the latter they are more respectful of each other.
The allegations against Google actually really caught me off guard because, in my experience, a lot of men in Silicon Valley seem like they're almost too... progressive (if that's the right word) to overtly harass their female peers the way men on Wall Street sometimes do. On the other hand I really struggle with inclusion in tech in a way that I never did in finance. I often feel dismissed by my tech colleagues. Both personally and professionally. Experiencing that sort of divide is much more difficult to explain and, to your point, much more difficult for me to navigate. Not to diminish women who have been sexually harassed at work, I'm one of them, but this silent divide takes a much bigger toll on me personally.
Thank you for pointing it out.