Eves in the Garden of Eden

Men are financial hotheads who like risk, and women are cautious and want security — that’s the standard cliché. Or to rephrase the title of a bestseller, “men buy shares from Mars and women have a savings account in Venus.” However, this very idea is turned upside down in the 1996 Hollywood flick The Associate. The protagonist, essayed by Whoopi Goldberg, is a financial analyst at Wall Street who quickly climbs her way up. Though her upward journey is fraught with tribulations, the way she handles the stock markets and eventually ends up creating a business empire dealing in finances is captured remarkably. Fast forward to 2019, with focus on the Indian scenario, many women, especially the younger generation is walking the path taken by Goldberg’s character. While they might not be creating empires like her, but they are definitely making a mark in...