Can women understand stock options?
I’ve never exercised a stock option. To be honest, I still don’t know much about the process, much less how details like the alternative minimum tax work. But in all the times that I’ve confused “a four-year vest” with an L.L. Bean product, no one has ever tied my ignorance to my gender. No one has ever patted me on the head and comforted me by saying, “It’s OK, Damien, this stock market thing is confusing to men.” My female colleagues, however, were treated to just such an insult Wednesday on CNBC’s “Women’s Investment Center” Web site. There, they and anyone else who visited found an article by equities editor Caitlin Mollison, telling them, “Women, in particular, need to be educated about the intricacies of options to avoid common pitfalls.” Women, it seems, are just too dumb to figure out these newfangled benefits packages on their own. Options are just so, like, unfamiliar; they’re “new to women,” says benefits consultant Ralph B. Nelson in the article. “Therefore, [women] need to
