The Two Faces Of Goldman Sachs – OpEd
“Goldman Sachs is proud of its long record of promoting and advancing women and remains committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace for all our people.”
When a Goldman Sachs executive said that this week, she knew it was a lie.
Jacqueline Arthur’s statement was issued following word that Goldman Sachs had finally settled a lawsuit filed in 2010 claiming discrimination against women; the case was scheduled to go to trial next month. The financial behemoth shelled out $215 million to settle the case brought by women plaintiffs. It also agreed to allow “independent experts” to advise them on how to treat women fairly.
In short, it is precisely because Goldman Sachs does not have a “long record of promoting and advancing women” that it had to fork over the dough.
That’s not the only thing that is unprincipled about Goldman Sachs.
On its website, it has a section called, “Diversity and Inclusion.” On p. 3, it says, “Goldman Sachs believes when women lead, everything changes.” It is too early to say if that is true: the lawsuit was filed by women who worked there as an associate or vice president in the management and securities divisions.
It is risible to read about Goldman Sachs bragging about its support for the Equal Rights Amendment: the Wall Street firm wound up in court precisely because it has a history of discriminating against women in the workplace.
What does abortion have to do with running Goldman Sachs? Nothing. But this is one women’s right it supports anyway. Last year, as part of its Diversity STEM summer program, it hailed students for showing interest in “abortion rights.”
This raised an interesting question: How sympathetic is Goldman Sachs to religious liberty?
As it turns out, it isn’t. It is an advocate of the Equality Act, which would not only penalize Catholic doctors and Catholic hospitals for not performing abortions and sex-reassignment surgeries, it would—in an unprecedented move—exempt itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the landmark religious liberty legislation signed by President Bill Clinton.
Typing “diversity and religion” into the search engine of Goldman Sachs yields 13 results, all of which are perfunctory entries. But the website is more detailed, and much more extensive, when “diversity and transgender” are entered (there are 31 such results).
Entering “diversity and sexual orientation” is even more popular; it merits 66 entries. The most popular is also the most perverse: there are 376 listings for “diversity and women.”
It gets better.
When “school choice” is entered into its search engine, up pops an article about its annual Analyst Impact Fund. The 2019 article is in reference to a $250,000 first prize given to Days for Girls. The goal of this group is to provide increased access to menstrual care and education in developing countries.
Even more revealing is what happens when “religious liberty” is entered. The title of the piece is called, “Goldman Sachs Signs Amicus Brief Supporting Marriage Equality.”
The ruling class, as I point out in War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream, is not on the side of Americans who hold to traditional moral values. Just the opposite. Count Goldman Sachs among them.
