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Former Engineer Says Uber Is a Nightmare of Sexism; CEO Orders Urgent Investigation (susanjfowler.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: A former Uber engineer has published an explosive account of sexism and power struggles in the workplace, with allegations beginning from her very first official day with the company. The engineer, Susan Fowler (who left Uber in December and now works for Stripe), posted the account to her blog on Sunday, calling it a "strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story." It is indeed horrifying. Sexism is a well-documented problem in Silicon Valley, but the particulars of Fowler's account are astounding. She says problems began on day one, when her manager accosted her with details of his sex life: "In my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners but he wasn't. He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn't help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR. When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man's first offense, and that they wouldn't feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to. Upper management told me that he "was a high performer" (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn't feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part. The things only get worse for Fowler. Read the full account of her story here. In the meanwhile, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the company would "conduct an urgent investigation" into the allegations, and promised to fire anyone who "behaves this way or thinks this is OK."

Journalist Paul Carr summing up the situation, says, "Uber's ability to be on the wrong side of every moral and ethical issue is bordering on magical."

5 of 917 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Here we have a prime example of a cultist. See how they use the catchy terms such as "brogrammer" and "MRA" in an attempt to dehumanize their hated targets. Their post is writhe with buzzwords and propaganda they hear from their favorite twitter accounts.

  2. Re:I'm not surprised. by Notabadguy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Jesus - that's what you got out of that?

    I said that writing a story about being a stellar performer and being held back by a manager who doesn't want to lose you because you make them look good does not equate to a "GRIPPING STORY ABOUT EXPLOSIVE SEXUAL HARASSMENT."

    And I'm part of the problem?

    The problem sir is a lack of integrity, scope, and truth. We should all aspire to these things.

  3. Re: I'm not surprised. by DogDude · · Score: 0, Troll

    Any advance from a supervisor is UNWANTED.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  4. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    If you're a student of the real sciences, you're clearly not a very *bright* student. If you were even moderately bright, you'd know that there is really quite a big difference between "difficult to see" and "when we cannot observe something".

  5. Re: I'm not surprised. by s.petry · · Score: 0, Troll

    Which are alleged to exist but nothing, not even a redacted screen shot, was provided. Have you links to Screenshots and Formal complaints that TFA does not provide, or are you just trolling?

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.