I'm honestly disappointed that many commenters here are making a lot of judgment about Pao's intentions. It's like no one read the piece properly. Here, let me help you (and get your walls down!)
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Claim 1: She's over-reading an already tough environment (which btw men also face) for sexism.
See the Ajit Nazre harassment section. Also note that Pao wasn't the only one targeted.
See the male-only ski trips/ club visits/ etc section. It's bullshit to say that it's not their fault that women are uncomfortable talking about porn stars. It's unprofessional anyway. And seriously, a top venture firm can't afford to accommodate for all members of their team?
"I was later told that they didn’t invite any women because women probably wouldn’t want to share a condo with men."
Still a big presumption to make; Pao may actually be OK with this.
I get the male buddy bonding thing, but arguably doesn't this make it harder for women to feel part of the team too?
See also the Flipboard section. Now this I'm very familiar with; make a suggestion, be promptly turned down, another guy makes the same suggestion later and wahey! Back slaps all around.
See also the section where she was excluded from meetings, discussions and 'scoops.'
See also the section where others (white, male) more junior than her received promotion and she didn't.
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Claim 2: Pao is out for attention.
Seriously I can't even -
OK, I'm not going to do a reference here. Think about it: Pao is well-educated and has a very good position at a top firm. She's also just started a family, and instability is the last thing anyone in that position wants. It will take a very serious claim to risk all that.
She was also very aware that the odds are overwhelmingly against her. See section when she asked other women who had sued powerful firms over discrimination. One even said "It’s a complete mismatch of resources. They don’t fight fair. Even if you win, it will destroy your reputation."
See section about how her firm launched an aggressive media campaign to discredit her, including "click farms" to spread negative rumours about her incompetency etc. How Vanity Fair (!) suggested that her marriage was a sham because her husband previously had gay relationships.
She did lose, but for what it's worth, she did end up getting attention - the right sort I would say (see the "Pao Effect".)
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Claim 3: Pao did it for the money."
See section when she was offered money to leave quietly.
Though "When I spoke to the COO, he asked how much I wanted in order to quietly leave. “I want no less than what Ajit gets,” I said — which I suspected was around $10 million. The COO gasped."
The same Ajit as above.
Oh yes she's releasing a new book, but seriously, is the profit really enough to make it her primary intention to sue for harassment?
And as mentioned above, even if she won, she would have lost her reputation. There's a reason everyone applauds whistle-blowers, and no one wants to hire them.
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Claim 4: Sexism is only an emergent behaviour of a toxic industry. To fix sexism, we have to instil professionalism.
This is true and a good intention, but forgive me this is also belittling the issue of sexism.
For sure, women aren't the only ones with negative experience. You could say the same for other minority groups such as black, LGBTQ etc, and yes even overworked white, male juniors.
But sexism is a major part of what makes the environment toxic. Women make 50% of the global population! And clearly many women in tech experience uncomfortable issues rooted in sexism. If you want to instil more professionalism, you will also need to cover sexism in the training.
See section where the firm admits that they don't even have a HR department until recently.
See also comments that claim women are using their gender as a card. So f---ing patronising.
See section where the firm has very low female presence in the board.
It's true that there is a shortage of females in tech, making recruitment harder. But this is why we need to go beyond professionalism training. To get more gender balance, we need to start at schools. So for those tired of the whole "women are victims" yada-yada (I admit that I also feel the same) for what it's worth, people are now paying attention and working harder to encourage girls into STEM subjects, and make the tech environment more inclusive.
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Running out of time, but I hope this is enough food for thought.