Editor’s Note: Shelby White is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared in Barron’s, The New York Times and Forbes. She is the author of What Every Woman Should Know About Her Husband’s Money, published by Random House in 1992.

Was Larry Summers right? Just four years ago, the then-president of Harvard made his famous remark that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers. And now we have Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Economics. But wait — Dr. Ostrom is, in fact, not a mathematician; she is a social scientist. And, according to some, her achievement signifies a move in economics away from hard science to a more interdisciplinary approach. 

But, for me, I didn’t need the Nobel committee to validate the changing role of women in economics and finance. This morning I attended a finance committee meeting of a board and realized that I was the only woman trustee — the other members were all men. Across the table sat the CFO, the Comptroller and the Chief Investment Officer: They were all women.