Great piece in the Herald looking at how things might or could have been different if women had been in charge of the financial system. Harriet Harman has floated the idea in the UK of appointing more women to the boards of banks in order to soften the the testosterone fuelled activities of the current lot.

The macho culture of traders has been studied of many occasions focusing primarily on testosterone. Of course this is a popular fall guy for any over the edge activity that men get themselves fired up on. But research shows this to be true.In fact some researchers go as far as to blame the credit crunch on over pumped up Gordon Gekkos.

There is no doubt that this type of beahviour has a strong causative effect on bubbles and general winning of big bets. It’s a natural high…..who hasn’t felt it when winning a bet at the races, or getting something right in a quiz or a great result in an exam.

The good news is that women are no so affected by these grand illusions preferring to focus on the basics like how much money is in the account and other boring details like that.

We’ve yet to read a bout a female “rogue trader” so maybe Harriet is onto something here. But I don’t think it’s an equality issue, it’s more about skills. Women have skills that we need to use in all areas and money is a pretty crucial one as everyone is now finding out.

Imagine banking for the people……the service of providing money. As opposed to banking…….punting huge amounts of cash in the global casino.

Something tells me they are onto something here. Let’s face it…women have run the household budgets forever…they are the true oikonomists.

More and more women are getting into the money business…….how about the ladies at Wokai? i really like their style and approach. As i have noticed before nearly 80% of my loans on Kiva have been to women. Maybe i figure they are more likley to knuckle down and pay it back

I’m sure there are some great examples of women in this line of work or ones up and coming. I invite you all to nominate your favourites and let the bandwagon roll on.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

This seems to parellel Article 6. Surely all are equal before the law?

Well as we know that is not the case. Or to paraphrase Orwell, “all humans are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

Men and women for example are treated unequally in many jurisdictions. Sometimes it makes me wonder how they drafted this thing with a straight face. Did they actually believe it? Answers on a postcard please.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

What I love about children is their innocence and their ability to accept people as they see them. The idea that we are all the same resonates with them. Sure we all look different on the outside but the key here is that we are born free and equal. At that moment of birth anything is possible. Then its a descent into society, culture and the rest.

The key here is equality in dignity and rights. It doesn’t mean we are all the same as clearly we all have different abilities. But just because someone can run faster than me doesn’t make them a better person. This is the key to dignity and rights.

We all deserve those. If we get them early in our life its likely we will turn out ok. At least that’s what I hope for.