Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella apologise for his women remark
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Hyderabad: Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella triggered widespread uproar on Thursday after suggesting working women should just trust “karma” when it comes to securing pay raises, instead of asking for one.
Nadella was speaking during an on-stage discussion at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Arizona, United States when he made the controversial remark.
He had been asked by the moderator to give advice to women who were uncomfortable requesting a raise. And this was Nadella’s rather weird response: “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.” Not asking for raise, he added, is “good karma” that would help a boss realise that the employee could be trusted and should have more responsibility.”
He went on to contend that women who don’t ask for pay raises have a “superpower” in the form of “good karma, that’ll come back”, suggesting the tech sector prefers women who just shut up and get on with work.
Even Nadella’s interviewer Maria Klawe, a member of Microsoft’s board, pointedly disagreed with the CEO triggering applause from the audience. She suggested women do their homework on salary information and first practice asking with people they trust.
Equal work, equal pay
The tech industry is notorious for the gender gap often allowing men to ‘free pass’ through its ranks while subjecting women to an extremely unfriendly work environment. Nadella’s Microsoft too is a prime example with just twenty-nine per cent female staff. The firm’s engineering staff and are just 17 per cent female.
Commentators online have slammed Nadella for lacking basic empathy and for re-affirming a regressive stance on women, which furthers the idea that all bosses need are “compliant, feminine and demure” female employees, who well, will obey an ancient Indian belief for the rest of their careers.
But moderater Klawe’s genuine advice for women to go right ahead and ask for a raise has gone down well with the community. “Both women and men are equal when we study in colleges. I strongly believe the technology industry is ready to accept women in all leadership roles. It is up to women to decide what level of commitment they are ready for. They should drop their inhibitions and pursue goals aggressively,” said Prasanna Anireddy, engineering director at Progress Software in Hyderabad. Another opinion comes from Geeta Goti, a prominent HR expert and mentor.
“Women are judged based on perceptions. Perceptions in India and elsewhere is that women work for passing their time, search for meaning, prove themselves or just to supplement income and hence they should be happy and content on what is paid to them. The situation is the same in IT and non-IT organisations. Atleast, IT the workforce is more vocal.”
Geeta adds: “Some of the programmes on diversity at workplace do not look at the finer aspects of compensation for women on equal terms as men. Women experiencing the clichéd glass ceiling is a reality.
“So, why complain when we do not have women leaders in corporate. The new Companies Act has also made it mandatory to nominate a woman director on the board, this is leap in the governance however, at the implementation level we are yet to see a change in the role taken by the women.”
Nadella has apologised for that gaffe saying he had answered the question “completely wrong”.
“When it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, you should just ask.” he wrote.
The tech industry is notorious for the gender gap often allowing men to ‘free pass’ through its ranks while subjecting women to an extremely unfriendly work environment.
Nadella’s Microsoft too is a prime example with just twenty-nine per cent female staff. The firm’s engineering staff and are just 17 per cent female.
Commentators online have slammed Nadella for lacking basic empathy and for re-affirming a regressive stance on women, which furthers the idea that all bosses need are “compliant, feminine and demure” female employees, who well, will obey an ancient Indian belief for the rest of their careers.
But moderater Klawe’s genuine advice for women to go right ahead and ask for a raise has gone down well with the community. “Both women and men are equal when we study in colleges. I strongly believe the technology industry is ready to accept women in all leadership roles. It is up to women to decide what level of commitment they are ready for. They should drop their inhibitions and pursue goals aggressively,” said Prasanna Anireddy, engineering director at Progress Software in Hyderabad.
Another opinion comes from Geeta Goti, a prominent HR expert and mentor.
“Women are judged based on perceptions. Perceptions in India and elsewhere is that women work for passing their time, search for meaning, prove themselves or just to supplement income and hence they should be happy and content on what is paid to them. The situation is the same in IT and non-IT organisations. Atleast, IT the workforce is more vocal.”
Geeta adds: “Some of the programmes on diversity at workplace do not look at the finer aspects of compensation for women on equal terms as men. Women experiencing the clichéd glass ceiling is a reality.
“So, why complain when we do not have women leaders in corporate. The new Companies Act has also made it mandatory to nominate a woman director on the board, this is leap in the governance however, at the implementation level we are yet to see a change in the role taken by the women.”
Nadella has apologised for that gaffe saying he had answered the question “completely wrong”.
“When it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, you should just ask.” he wrote.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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