It can’t be disputed that women have made advances in all kinds of jobs over the past few decades.  A lengthy article in the New York Times Magazine about the demise of Zoe Cruz at Morgan Stanley provides the argument that it also can’t be disputed the glass ceiling women in the C-Suite bump up against is still there, possibly reinforced.  At a time when we’re seriously considering the election of the first woman to the U.S. Presidency, it’s odd that gender still seems such a barrier to power in the business world.

As you may recall, Morgan Stanley is the firm that paid $54 million to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit in 2004.   Although Zoe Cruz wasn’t involved in that case, she and other women at the firm seemed to benefit from it.  In fact, it appeared that Cruz was poised to become the first female CEO of a major Wall Street firm.

At age 52, she had spent her entire career (25 years) at Morgan Stanley.  She was described as being aggressive, competitive, zealous, ruthless, volatile, decisive,  emotional, and arrogant.  She had all the makings of a CEO in corporate America.  For quite a while, she had the support of the present CEO of Morgan Stanley, John Mack, who had been a friend, mentor and sponsor of Cruz.  Mack had indicated that he wanted part of his legacy to be the advancement of women into top jobs at the firm.  He had also indicated that Cruz would be his successor.

Not everyone liked Cruz.  She was nicknamed the “Wicked Witch” and the “Cruz Missile.”  Her leapfrogging of male counterparts didn’t sit well with her male counterparts.  In their view, she wasn’t rising on merit but gender.  Despite her attempts to act like an alpha male executive (she worked 16 hour days and took a phone call about a problem at work while giving birth to one of her three children), it was obvious to some that she was just a woman.  She cried, for example, as a means of manipulating others.  She should have stuck to screaming, which she also did.

Although not hit as hard as some Wall Street firms by the subprime mortgage fiasco, Morgan Stanley felt its impact.  Zoe Cruz was one of several Morgan Stanley executives involved.  Someone, of course, had to be blamed. It could have been John Mack, the CEO and Cruz’s friend, but it wasn’t.  Mack called Cruz to his office for an impromptu ten minute meeting and fired her.  There were accusations by some observers that she had been unfairly singled out to take the fall for her boss, but many of her male colleagues were gleeful.  After being the female who held the top executive position on Wall Street and being named by Forbes as No. 16 on a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, she was out.

I have no idea whether Zoe Cruz should have been fired.  I have no idea whether she should have been the next CEO of Morgan Stanley.  The Times article doesn’t help answer those questions.  It does give a glimpse of what it’s like to be a player in the executive world of the top firms and corporations in America.  It still appears to be a man’s world, which raises employment law problems in the area of gender discrimination.  It also appears to be a world where cannibalism is the best metaphor for its culture.  As far as I know, there’s no employment law addressing cannibalism.