Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Causes Uproar Over Comments

Following Microsoft Corp. Satya Nadella’s comment at last week’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, that women shouldn’t sweat it if there is vast inequality of man-to-woman pay scales within the tech industry because “karma” will put things right, a media furor lambasting Nadella has taken place.
The comment that sparked the controversy – following a question asking how women should put themselves up for promotion or advance in the workplace – is as follows (not in full) :

“…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 long. And 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 will come back. Somebody’s going to know that’s the kind of person I want to trust. That’s the kind of person that I want to give more responsibility to. And in the long-term efficiency, things catch up.”

Karma is real, especially for Nadella

Talking with the Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College, on SiliconANGLE’s theCUBE about the comment and women in computing in general, Klawe was not overly critical of  the comment itself:

“One of the things Satya said is the system works, and so, you shouldn’t worry about what your salary is on a day-to-day basis, because it will eventually reward you for what you’ve actually contributed.”

She goes on to say as a female she has become aware over time that she has been significantly underpaid compared to her male counterparts, although she did not delve further into the implications of what seemed to most people like a blatant remark indicative of the inherent sexism in the tech industry.

See her full commentary below, and read more after the clip:

Other women working within the industry commenting online were not as self-contained towards Satya’s words. Here are a few of the things said about what has been called a rather telling comment from the Microsoft CEO:

Kathy Caprino for FORBES magazine:ng group of talented, ambitious women in technology to be quiet, and not ask for what they deserve, and trust in the system… I had a million judgments and projections about what Nadella meant and the potential cultural and societal reasons behind his remarks, and I was sure he failed to understand the challenges that women face every day to be recognized and treated equitably and fairly.”

Caprino later states that it’s likely that Nadella is not an outright sexist, only that his misunderstanding, or lack of empathy, towards what women experience in the work place is normal within the industry. She adds, “He lacks empathy and a true understanding of what women go through every day in corporate America to be treated with equality and fairness in terms of pay and other critical professional dimensions.”

On Twitter:

“Lots of murmurs in the crowd as @satyanadella says that if you don’t ask for a raise, you’ll eventually get fair pay.” Lauren Schaefer, an IBM software engineer.

Tech blogger Selina Larson wrote on her blog:

“Ascribing to mortals the fictional abilities of comic book heroes, Nadella advised that women embrace their innate ‘super powers’ and confidence, and trust a system that pays women 78% as much as men.”

Nadella posted on Twitter following the reaction online:
“Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias.”

Diversity shows its true colors (or lack thereof)

A Microsoft employee diversity report shows that only 29 percent of employees are female.

Research by Glassdoor states that, “A male Microsoft senior software development engineer makes about $137,000 per year, compared with about $129,000 for women.

Trust in a system that already seems broken is what seems to be the most salient criticism. Krawe’s belief is that young women should not be looking up to tech-Gods such as the Boys Club member like Mark Zuccerberg, who is not a viable role model, she says to the Cube, but creating their own start-ups and becoming their own role models. If the old guard is male predominated, then a new cast of characters needs to emerge.