zoogs Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber As most of you know, I left Uber in December and joined Stripe in January. I've gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like. It's a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go. Spoiler alert: horrifying (and unsurprising) sexism. These problems are not unique to them; many comments I've heard about this story are along the lines of "this only surprises you if you are a man". But what better way to help the industry help itself than by making everyone aware that if stuff like this surfaces (as it will), they will take a permanent hit that no amount of firing and personnel changes can paper over? Link to comment
Making Chimichangas Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Absolutely insane. I don't know this for a fact, but I'd wager that this type of behavior from "men" in the upper corporate world is far more the rule than it is the exception. Link to comment
Moiraine Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 I thought of applying there. Link to comment
knapplc Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 This is one person's account. Without knowing more this falls somewhere between damning evidence and total BS. 2 Link to comment
JJ Husker Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 That's absolutely insane. Hard to believe that type of behavior is perpetuated in this day and age. I mean I realize there are still instances but that is just blatant and pervasive. Unreal. Link to comment
NM11046 Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 This will sound very odd ... but at least the sexism is pretty flagrant and out in the public eye there at Uber. Most often what we face in large corporations isn't something that you can put your finger on specifically. But numbers don't lie. Women in leadership positions overall in business are very low for very specific and prolific reasons. Link to comment
NM11046 Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Kinda related, but not - this was also in the news yesterday. Link to comment
Moiraine Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Kinda related, but not - this was also in the news yesterday. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/833660243494240256 My mom says she heard that kind of thing from teachers when she was in school. In the 1950s and 1960s. Link to comment
ZRod Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Kinda related, but not - this was also in the news yesterday. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/833660243494240256 My mom says she heard that kind of thing from teachers when she was in school. In the 1950s and 1960s. That's when America was great! Link to comment
teachercd Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 This is one person's account. Without knowing more this falls somewhere between damning evidence and total BS. Agree! Link to comment
zoogs Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 https://medium.com/@hadrad1000/reflecting-on-susan-fowlers-reflections-e2dccb374b47#.jezc5s6eb If people only take from this the fact that Uber’s HR department needs work, and the managers are a$$hole$, and Uber needs to release its diversity statistics, then we are missing the point. Sexism is a problem everywhere. In politics, in publishing, in academia. If this is a wake-up call for HR, for SREs, and for Uber, then that’s wonderful. But it needs to be more. It needs to be a wake-up call for everyone. Link to comment
Moiraine Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 I think I've been pretty lucky in grad school and then my job. That's not to say that I think I should be scared to ever look for another job because every workplace is teeming with sexual harassers who want to pay me half a salary. But my STEM field has a lot of women in it. There were more women in my department than men (although more male professors and male professors running committees). And at work my boss is female. I haven't worked directly under a man before except my professor during my Master's project. And yes I know that's going to end up in the Woodshed. You sexist monsters. Link to comment
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