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'Women At Microsoft Are Sexualized By Their Male Managers,' Lawsuit Alleges (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: According to a newly unsealed court filing, women at Microsoft who work in technical jobs filed 238 internal complaints pertaining to gender discrimination or sexual harassment from 2010 through 2016. The new document was first reported Monday evening by Reuters. The figures were revealed as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit originally filed in 2015 (Moussouris v. Microsoft). The female plaintiffs argue that the company's internal rating system discriminates against women and disfavors professional advancement for women.
As part of the class certification process and civil discovery, Microsoft handed over years of records to the plaintiffs' lawyers. In the Monday-released filing, which was originally submitted to the court in October 2017, Moussouris' lawyer, Michael Subit, wrote that "Microsoft's Culture is Rife with Sexual Harassment" before continuing: "Company records indicate that women at Microsoft are sexualized by their male managers and coworkers, leading to a substantial number of incidents of alleged sexual harassment, and even several incidents of sexual assault, that often go unpunished." Specifically, Subit continued, Microsoft's internal unit (known as "ERIT") received 108 complaints of sexual harassment filed by female US-based technical employees, 119 complaints of gender discrimination, eight complaints of retaliation, and three complaints of pregnancy discrimination. Out of all of the claimed instances of gender discrimination, Microsoft's internal investigation only found that one such complaint was "founded."
As part of the class certification process and civil discovery, Microsoft handed over years of records to the plaintiffs' lawyers. In the Monday-released filing, which was originally submitted to the court in October 2017, Moussouris' lawyer, Michael Subit, wrote that "Microsoft's Culture is Rife with Sexual Harassment" before continuing: "Company records indicate that women at Microsoft are sexualized by their male managers and coworkers, leading to a substantial number of incidents of alleged sexual harassment, and even several incidents of sexual assault, that often go unpunished." Specifically, Subit continued, Microsoft's internal unit (known as "ERIT") received 108 complaints of sexual harassment filed by female US-based technical employees, 119 complaints of gender discrimination, eight complaints of retaliation, and three complaints of pregnancy discrimination. Out of all of the claimed instances of gender discrimination, Microsoft's internal investigation only found that one such complaint was "founded."
238 complaints is, based on Microsofts current employee count of around 124,000, one complaint per 521 employees. Over a 6 year period. While a zero rate would be nice, I don't think that's too bad either.
Plus we seem to be getting to that stage where some people consider allegations to be enough that action simply has to be taken, screw the investigation and screw the evidence. An allegation has been made, so punishment must be enacted.
While a world where women are considered a lesser species is certainly a world that needs to be eliminated, a world where mere allegations are enough is not the world we should be aiming to replace it with.
I have attended sexual harassment classes. They almost always make things worse.
The typical problem is described by the words "sexualized their male managers".
It indicates a huge abuse of the english language, and makes sexual harassment MORE likely, not less. A literal explanation of the meaning is "make sexual". That's simply not true - the men are not taking asexual creatures and making them more sexual.
Instead, the author is trying to say that the men have no respect for the women and are sexually harassing them. But instead of taking the time to say it clearly, they take a shortcut. But the short cut sounds STUPID to the target market. The evil men do not think their behavior is inappropriate and when you use this short cut, they do not understand what you are saying.
It's the liberal equivalent of saying "I have a black friend". It makes the speaker look stupid rather than convincing people of the truth.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
And because of that you're going to see a dramatic decrease in the number of women hired in tech.
It happens to be hardwired in the male brain and it is the central reason the human race still exist. Expecting anything else is pretty stupid. Now, a decent male is polite about it and a decent female understands and forgives the occasional mistake. Decent people of either sex seem to be getting harder to come by though.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
It is really important to keep changing the rules so we can label the women as always in the wrong.
If they do not go nuclear by hiring a lawyer and getting the feds involved, instead of attempting to work through company channels, we can cast doubt about whether they "truly believe" there is a problem.
If they do go nuclear, we can just call them disgruntled employers who never really stood up for themselves and tried to work things out like adults fit to live in the real world.
The women always lose. That is what is important.
I still think it's a terrible injustice that there are so few female garbage collectors. Where's the feminine outrage that driving garbage trucks is primarily a male-dominated job?
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
> First poster to mention SJW gets smacked
That would be you.
> Nothing more ridiculous than fat, well-paid white men
The first person to make a racial comment - also you. The first person to disrepair and insult people based on their gender? You. Just put get it over with an put on your KKK hood already since you clearly have no shame about being a racist and a bigot.
If they do not go... If they do go...
Well, since it's impossible to please everyone, suggestions on both ends of the spectrum will inevitably be made, and you can use this logic to dismiss all of them as stemming from bigotry. All you have to do is pretend that the same people are making both arguments.
The women always lose. That is what is important.
Any statement you don't like is misogynistic. That is what is important.
Honestly, this lawsuit has little to no merit. 125000 employees and there are less than 300 complaints in total over 7 calendar years. That's not a systemic problem. It's a greedy lawyer hoping for a settlement... who forgot Bill Gates was at Harvard studying law.
Actually, men are incentivized to take up nursing as a career. There are perennial complaints of too few male nurses. But of course, you are a knee-jerk asshole who never actually talked to a nurse.
Bullshit. If they're not reported how do you know?
You make it up. That's how.