By Gigi DeVault (Munich)

Like some behemoth glacier that relentlessly exerts tremendous destructive force as it grinds its way to a final standstill, the financial crisis has pulverized the stalwart bedrock of global fiscal wellbeing. Engaged as we are in the massive scale clean-up of the debris of financial ruin – if the reader will further indulge this author’s use of metaphor—we may miss that the landscape is being naturally reshaped in places – pushed ahead like a terminal moraine that will ultimately provide a toe-hold for new forms of habitation.

One such structure of the financial landscape that is being subtly re-formed (and reformed) is the hedge fund. Women, a small minority of hedge fund managers, are helping investors find a smoother, safer, successful path to their goals.

Who are those guys?

Good or bad, the hedge fund industry tends to be populated by relatively young managers, a growing number of whom are women. According to a recent report entitled Sex Matters: Gender Differences in the Mutual Fund Industry, current estimates are that only 3% of the $1.5 trillion invested in hedge funds is managed by women.

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By Gigi DeVault (Munich)

If Betty Friedan first showed women through a “room with a view” in the 60s, a Pew Report released this month has ever so gently closed the door to that room as well. The Pew report, The New Economics of Marriage: The Rise of Wives, explains why economic gains in marriage are now greater for men than they are for women. The number of men married to wives whose income and education exceed theirs has increased 18% since 1970.

Another gender trend reversal has been boosted by the current economic downturn; the employment of men has been hurt in this recession more than that of women, with men making up 75% of the decline in employment for prime-working-age Americans in 2008. If we call this phenomenon, where three out of every four people thrown out of work have been male the mancession, what tag can we hang on its corollary? According to the Economist, “within the next few months women will cross the 50% threshold and become the majority of the American workforce.” Betty Friedan might have said it is about time. The Economist says this “quiet revolution” is a reason to celebrate.

An increasing number of women step across their thresholds in the morning, gamely suppressing any show of guilt or relief, having outsourced or insourced traditionally “female” household duties. If they are the primary breadwinners for their household, they may wave goodbye to a beloved husband or partner, who stands immobilized by a toddler tugging on a pant leg or an infant testing the burp pad draped over his shoulder. How couples feel about these arrangements depends on a number of variables, not the least of which is whether an implied contract between them has been violated.

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By Elizabeth Harrin (London)

The U.S. may have turned the corner and be on its way out of the recession, but what else is coming out of the recession? A new frugality? Consumers who will never invest in luxury products again? Not so. In fact, recessions have a history of giving us new and exciting things. The iPod was a product of the last recession, and this downturn also looks to be providing organisations with some great opportunities.

Julie Meyer, founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital believes that one of the things businesses could benefit from is the shift towards what she calls ‘individual capitalism’. “The unit of business has come down to the individual,” she says. There’s a focus on providing customers with a more personalised approach – whether that’s in financial services products or giving them the chance to tailor their coffee to their personal tastes on the way into the office each morning.

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by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

One person “is paying it forward while seeking work.” Another is an MBA & Telecom Engineer who “seeks transition to a technology mgmt position – product planning/consulting.” Someone else has a “Controller Opportunity in Baton Rouge.” Yet another is “looking for a mentor in DC area, prefer female that works in marketing.”

Who are these people? They are the new job seekers and they have swapped Chamber of Commerce lunches and a rolodex of established contacts for Twitter and a network of complete strangers. Meet the job angels.

Job Angels is an organization that was started by Mark Stelzner, the founder of Inflexion Advisors, a consulting firm offering financial, operational, marketing, market development and organizational services to public and private companies.

An active networker, Mark had approximately 700 followers on the social media site Twitter, many of them in the human resources industry. One day this past January, Mark sent this tweet, “Was thinking that if each of us helped just 1 person find a job, we could start making a dent in unemployment. You game?” That was the beginning of Job Angels. Several months later, Job Angels has 4,667 followers on Twitter, 1,454 members on Facebook and 189 more on LinkedIn.

Job Angels’ mission is to help bring people together for a single goal: to help just one person find gainful employment. That person can be a friend, a family member, a colleague or a complete stranger. Individual job angels help by spreading the word among their network regarding other job seekers’ career interests, by offering advice, critiquing resumes and helping any other way they can.

Michelle* is a good example of how Job Angels works. Michelle found employment through Job Angels and then turned around and helped another user find a job in a law firm earlier this year.

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