It’s been less than a month since the #DeleteUber hashtag has been trending on Twitter. Now it seems that the hashtag is back in full force and with a whole other meaning behind it.
On Sunday, February 19, Susan Fowler, an ex-engineer who started working for Uber in November 2015, published a lengthy blog post titled, “Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber.” Her post detailed a long list of institutional sexism, HR’s complete lack of support to handle matters and organizational politics that lead to her post quickly spreading like wildfire on social media—on Twitter, Fowler’s post has been retweeted nearly 21,000 times and liked over 26,000 times as of Monday night.
You and I both know that women and men are not given the same experiences or opportunities at work. It is no doubt that women face a workplace more dominated by men and face a more steeper path to leadership. While we know that institutional sexism and sexual harassment is alive and well in the workplace, Fowler’s story sheds light on many instances that women deal with on a day-to-day basis.
A survey conducted by Cosmopolitan found that one in three women between the ages of 18-34 has been sexually harassed at work. The findings show that 44 percent of women stated that they’ve encountered unwanted touching and sexual advances, and 25 percent say they’ve received lewd texts or emails. But in Fowler’s instance, having to to deal with such transgressions on her first day working for Uber is slightly alarming.
First things first, this type of message should have been met with an immediate disciplinary response, but it wasn’t. Fowler was made aware by HR that although the manager’s actions were clearly “sexual harassment,” he has never acted in such a manner before therefore he would get only a warning, and besides, he was a “high performer” within the company.
According to the survey by Cosmopolitan, out of the women who said they’ve experienced workplace sexual harassment, 29 percent reported the issue while 71 percent decided not to. Could the above example be a reason why?
With most companies taking the route of performance coaching, within this process we expect to be judged on the work that we have done—being recognized for our achievements and our talents that set us apart from all others, our insights and our daily efforts. But can we say that this actually happens? In Fowler’s case this was not an option regardless of her “perfect” work performance. She was shot down time and time again for a transfer from her department.
In a nutshell, Fowler was being held back for her manager’s own political advancements. It wasn’t that she was unqualified or inexperienced; it was simply to boost his own career achievements. In the blog post Fowler goes on to explain that Uber was awarding all employees with leather jackets—except for the women employees, of course, stating that there were too few women to purchase them and therefore the company was not being offered a deal on purchasing the women’s jackets.
Is it just me or does the line, “the director replied back, saying if we women really wanted equality, then we should realize we were getting equality by not getting the leather jackets,” make absolutely no sense? Equality to me in the workplace means giving the same opportunities that are available to men available to women. It means having every individual on the same spectrum because no one is superior to the other. Equality in the workplace means both men and women are equal counterparts.
Seriously, what is really going on here? Fowler’s recount of her experiences at Uber has me slightly alarmed for myself about how it will be once I enter the real world upon graduating in May. We should live in a world where gender, race, color and religion simply do not matter. It should be a world where opportunities are endless and possibilities have no boundaries.
I am not sure what standards Uber’s HR department adheres to, but I am quite certain that having proof of indiscretions is something that would be openly accepted not frowned upon.
Ultimately, the Susan Fowler blog post is a stark reality that many women face. It’s known that women get an uneven playing field in the workplace and in life. Women simply are not offered the same opportunities as men making it less likely for advancement in growth and development. Perhaps with this realization its prompted Nike and Audi to take a firm stance on equality being a possible for both men and women. Hopefully other companies begin to follow suit, and the future will look up for women in the workplace.