Attorney Anita Hill has an op-ed in the New York Times reminding us that the Google employee’s sexist tirade is not a one-off moment. It’s just one of many signs revealing the systemic inequality and discrimination that happens in the tech industry. One of the most obvious ways that inequality shows is through the wage gap.
In the tech industry, women under 25 earn on average 29 percent less than their male counterparts. Women of all ages receive lower salary offers than men for the same job at the same company 63 percent of the time. They hold only 11 percent of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies and own only 5 percent of tech start-ups. Only 7 percent of partners at the top 100 venture capital firms are women. It is no wonder that the rate at which women quit tech jobs (41 percent) is more than twice as high as the corresponding rate for men.
And Hill writes that Silicon Valley will not change on its own—men overwhelmingly believe that tech companies spend enough time addressing inequality. And considering that leadership in companies tend to be overwhelming male (and white), that’s a bad sign. Why would they bother talking about a problem they don't think exists?
By and large, women are the only ones distressed by such dynamics. Eighty-two percent of men working for start-ups agree that their companies already spend the “right amount of time” addressing diversity. Nearly half of women — 40 percent — disagree, saying inadequate time is devoted.
With the sexist and racist Republicans running the country into the ground from the top down, government regulators won’t do much. And bad PR only does so much (just look at Uber, who changed its mind about getting a woman CEO). That’s why, Hill argues, women should turn to class-action lawsuits to whip the tech companies into shape.
Given recent Department of Justice moves to limit protections against gender and race discrimination, it’s hard to foresee serious government intervention coming from the current administration. Nor can we wait for bad press and shareholder class actions to force out negligent chief executives responsible for cultures of inequality.
Instead, women in the industry should collectively consider their legal options. Top among these would be class-action discrimination cases against employers.
Lawsuits aren’t the most expedient or accessible methods to equality. And in the digital age, it could expose plaintiffs to undue scrutiny and harassment. However, Hill says that lawsuits wouldn’t just help unfairly compensated women; a victorious lawsuit could create positive results that’d reverberate beyond one company.
Considering that lawsuits and government inquiries into allegations of gender discrimination have already hit numerous companies including Google, Twitter, Tesla, and Microsoft, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see women taking Hill’s advice very soon.