Why Stocks Are Like Women

This ad ran in The New Yorker 60 years ago, a time when Wall Street men regarded women as a breed apart.

"Stocks are somewhat like women," Merrill Lynch's copywriter asserts. Like stocks, all women are not alike. "For instance, some women move in schools, like fish; others are strictly independent. Some women are busy as waltzing mice; others are languid and lackadaisical. Some are fickle; others are faithful. They come in all shapes, sizes, and temperaments . . . to suit the shapes, sizes and temperaments of men."

The good news: Male copywriters don't write this sort of stuff any more.

The bad news: Wall Street still views women as a breed apart. Women in the financial industry get promoted more slowly and rise to senior positions more rarely, a CNBC-Linkedin survey finds.