Thank goodness someone set me straight on this before I, a woman-identifying human being, got too big for my lady-britches and assumed I was worthy of equal pay to my male counterparts. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella legitimately told women in the tech industry not to ask for a raise at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. In fact, in front of an audience of mostly women and sharing the stage with Microsoft board members, he advised women to "have faith in the system" as opposed to, you know, actually being proactive about one's professional life.
Well, we've seen what having faith in the system does to us, and just in case you want an extremely graphic and hilarious depiction of it, here is Sarah Silverman's recent attack on the gender wage gap. Women are currently making 78% of what their male counterparts make. The Equal Pay Project predicts over the years has lost women over 29 trillion dollars in deserved wages. And judging by the look of things, the issues that are perpetuating the wage gap are not being solved fast enough.
"It’s good karma. It will come back," said Nadella at the conference, explaining that women should embrace their confidence and inner "super powers" to rely on eventually earning a raise without speaking up for themselves and asking for one. Hopefully the criticism Nadella is facing will shed more light on this issue, and bring the US another step closer to closing the wage gap — especially in the tech field, which is predominantly male.
To his credit, Nadella did hear the criticism regarding his remarks, and addressed the matter on Twitter:
And I will admit that to some degree, he's right. Women shouldn't have ask for a raise – they should be making equal pay in the first place.
Image: Getty Images
