Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling in Private Equity

In the late 1980s, Sandra Horbach, a student at Stanford's Business School, wanted a part in the male-dominated world of private equity. "At some firms, it was very clear that the fact that I was a woman meant I would not be considered,'' Horbach said.

But she persevered and now runs the consumer and retail practice at the Carlyle Group. And Horbach is no longer in a class by herself. More women are slowly moving into senior leadership roles in private-equity firms and a few are even breaking into the executive suite.

But even with recent gains, a wide gender gap still persists. In North America, about 10 percent of the senior employees in private equity are women. By comparison, Wall Street - an industry long criticized for its lack of diversity - has women in 19 percent of its leadership positions. The private-equity industry is trying to address the gender issue, albeit in modest ways.

For instance, Bain Capital began visiting graduate business schools in 2007, with programs geared toward women. This year, 22 percent of Bain's incoming analysts and associates are women, compared with 6 percent in 2010.

Read more in the NYT.