The House of Representatives and the group of Goldman Sachs partners are more similar than you might think. Both are very difficult to get into; both are roughly the same size, in terms of number of individuals; and both are refreshed in the fall of even-numbered years.
By the numbers: This year, Goldman celebrated its 69 new partners with a press release extolling the fact that the percentage of women was the highest in Goldman's history. But the overall percentage of women among Goldman's partners barely budged, at 17%. (In the House, the percentage of women rose much more significantly, to 23%, which is still disappointingly low.)
- And, in the House, women constituted 40% of the incoming class, far above Goldman's 26%.
- Why it matters: Goldman knows it has a problem with under-representation of women. But the bank doesn't seem to be in any particular rush to fix that problem. Even its incoming entry-level analyst class isn't yet 50% female, and it won't reach that mark until 2021.