The #MeToo Movement May Have Started in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley’s gender inequality problem is no secret.
But the situation can be fixed, according to Emily Chang author of the book “Brotopia” and host of Bloomberg Technology.
“The #MeToo movement started in Silicon Valley,” she says.
Years before the reckoning in Hollywood, women like venture capitalist Ellen Pao and Uber’s Susan Fowler spoke out about harassment and discrimination. Their efforts, Chang says, made it “safer for more women to come forward.”
“That’s part of why I wrote the book,” says Chang. “To keep that conversation going and not lose the momentum that some of these courageous women have ignited.”
According to Chang, the gender pay gap in Silicon Valley is five times the national average. In the traditionally male-dominated tech industry, too many find themselves “the only women in the room.”
And there are cultural issues as well. Chang’s book takes an inside look at the social scenes of powerful executives, investors, and entrepreneurs, which include things like “sex parties” and a range of other similarly inappropriate activities.
“All of this perpetuates an uncomfortable environment for women and a power dynamic that is completely lopsided.”
Silicon Valley hasn’t always been this skewed.
“Women actually played vital roles in the computer revolution [in the 40s and 50s],” Chang says. “They were programming computers for the military and programming computers for NASA. Think ‘Hidden Figures’, but really industrywide.”
Cheddar News' Courtney Sturgeon reports live from the options trading floor on the 50th annivesrary of Cboe to break down the global impact of the U.S. options industry, and an outlook on the options market.
A new survey from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing shows that four in five behavioral health workers were concerned that labor shortages in their field “negatively impact society as a whole.”
A British tobacco company has agreed to pay more than $629 million to settle allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
First Republic Bank's stock plunged Tuesday after it said depositors withdrew more than $100 billion during last month’s crisis, with fears swirling that it could be the third bank to fail after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Strong U.S. sales helped General Motors increase its first-quarter net profit 19% over a year ago, leading the company to raise its full-year earnings guidance on expectations that people will keep buying new vehicles.
British regulators have blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market.
