[HLUG] Mircosoft put their foot in it

[Dave Winterton]

Just for those who think M/S ride rough shod over everyone
This is causing a little stir over the pond.

What's the opposite of leaning in? Having "faith" in a system that has
historically undervalued and underpaid women, that's what.

Such were the wise words of advice from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft,
at a conference celebrating women in computing. When asked what women
who are uncomfortable asking for promotions should do, Nadella said:

It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith
that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along.
That, I think, might be one of the additional superpowers that, quite
frankly, women who don't ask for a raise have. Because that's good
karma. It'll come back because somebody's going to know that's the kind
of person that I want to trust. That's the kind of person that I want to
really give more responsibility to. And in the long-term efficiency,
things catch up.

Maria M Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft board
member who has been a prominent advocate for women in tech had
previously gushed about Nadella throughout the conference, but when she
heard this response she took pause. "This is one of the very few things
I disagree with you on," she said to an outpouring of applause from the
audience.

Not surprisingly, Nadella's comment received a firestorm of criticism
after the conference for its sexist implications. Asking women to "have
faith" and stay silent all while producing great work in the hopes of
eventually being rewarded for this "good behavior" plays on tired gender
stereotypes.

Read between the lines and you'll see that what Nadella is really saying
is: be the kind of woman society tells you to be. Show us you can be
trusted and are deserving of more responsibility by being silent and
patient, and we will reward you one day when we see fit. Asking women to
fall into these stereotypical boxes with the promise of a reward (a
reward for doing their job well, a reward that their male counterparts
don't have to ask for but are given freely) is incredibly insulting.

Now lets look at the opposite side of the coin for a minute. For men,
being silent would likely show disinterest or indifference. For men,
asking for more money would be seen as confident and bold, not a sign of
impatience or acting inappropriately. Men don't have to sit around
waiting to be rewarded for their hard work because they get fairly
compensated when they walk through the door.

And that's a fact. Last year women were paid 78 cents for every dollar
men were paid. In computer science the numbers are more favorable - a
woman makes 89 percent of what men make when controlling for age, race,
hours and education. The field however has largely favored men, who at
Microsoft make up 71 percent of the workforce.

Due to this wage gap, every year women lose an average of $11,000
dollars. That amounts to about $500,000 over a woman's lifetime.
Clearly, having faith in the system hasn't worked. That's why the
National Women's Law Center launched the Equal Pay Back Project which
kicked off this week with a video featuring comedian Sarah Silverman.

Despite controversy the campaign has faced for being transphobic (in the
video Sarah Silverman decides to undergo gender reassignment surgery so
she can received equal pay), the issue of the wage gap needs to be
seriously addressed. In the face of this inequality, Nadella's comment
is even more insulting. Women have been fighting for equal pay for 50
years and yet we still come up short across industries. Women of color
face even steeper disparities, and trans women even more so.

Seems that after sharing his terrible advice, Nadella has been schooled
on the ABCs of the wage gap and consequently sent an email to Microsoft
employees admitting that he answered the question about what women
should do when they aren't comfortable asking for pay raises "completely
wrong." He continued saying:

Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in
the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay
gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And
when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it's
deserved, Maria's advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve
a raise, you should just ask.

I said I was looking forward to the Grace Hopper Conference to learn,
and I certainly learned a valuable lesson.