Gender Equality Stalls in Corporate America Despite #MeToo
October 24 2018 - 6:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman and Emily Glazer
Women remain underrepresented within companies at every level,
Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and other
senior leaders said--despite the #MeToo movement.
Progress has "dragged to a halt," said Ms. Sandberg, founder of
LeanIn.Org, who spoke at a San Francisco event hosted by The Wall
Street Journal on Tuesday. "We're at a really critical moment--a
really critical moment where we need to invest in leadership."
Women are entering the U.S. workforce in the highest numbers in
decades, but gender parity isn't improving, Ms. Sandberg said. Only
about one in five senior leaders is a woman, and one in twenty-five
is a woman of color, according to the fourth annual Women in the
Workplace survey from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co.
That is almost unchanged from the first survey 2015. Central to
the problem: hiring and promotions.
In the past year #MeToo movement has thrown into sharp focus how
sexual pressure has pervaded the workplace, from movie studios to
factory floors. Many high-profile men have been publicly named and
toppled for alleged sexual misconduct.
Now, companies are more aggressively grappling with how sexual
harassment impedes women's ability to scale the corporate ladder.
In corporate America, 35% of women and 55% of senior women surveyed
said they experienced sexual harassment--from sexist jokes to
inappropriate touching--at some point in their careers.
Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Reed Hastings said stories are more
powerful than statistics in highlighting the pervasive nature of
sexual harassment. For example, he said, a female employee at
Netflix endured harassment from one colleague for about two years.
It took another employee to report the behavior, after which the
harasser was fired. When the harassed employee was asked why she
hadn't reported it, she said: I like my job.
Sexual harassment also happens outside the office.
"You'd be amazed at the things that happen on our aircraft,"
said Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Continental Holdings Inc.
Employees, notably flight attendants, are subject to harassment
from passengers--but the airline is limited in actions it can take
after the fact, he said. Regulations bar cameras on airplanes, so
incidents can boil down to "he-said, she-said," creating the risk
of lawsuits and public-relations disasters.
Mr. Munoz added that 70% of women who travel for business feel
at risk when they go on trips.
Management experts and executives say harassment also can occur
in workplaces where men are perceived to be in charge and women
sidelined, making it tougher for them to ask for raises and
promotions. This is particularly true for women of color, who start
at a disadvantage relative to men and white women, according to
executives and the survey.
Less severe forms of discrimination such as
microaggressions--everyday sexism and racism--can also take a
toll.
Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck recalled attending a meeting years ago
with three female executives. Someone in the audience described the
women as "Charlie's Angels"--implying that he was Charlie.
Afterward, Mr. Peck said, he told the person who made the comment
that it was "completely unacceptable."
"It was all kinds of wrong," Mr. Peck said. "And it's about
calling it out."
But companies also have to consider--and counteract--the
unintended consequences of the #MeToo movement, executives said.
Ms. Sandberg mentioned a post-#MeToo survey in which nearly half of
male managers said they feel skittish about having a meeting alone
with a woman. Men are also more hesitant about going on work trips
or having dinner alone with female colleagues.
The executives all had suggestions on how to best handle
one-on-one meetings of the opposite sex. Netflix's Mr. Hastings
said men don't want female colleagues to feel uncomfortable but
"both sides, we just need to get through and have strong
professional relationships."
"Give me a break here folks, let's all act professionally," said
PG&E Corp. CEO Geisha Williams. "Why should you be worried
about going out with a woman or a woman mentee for dinner or
lunch?"
Ms. Sandberg's suggestion: Treat all your colleagues equally. If
managers are uncomfortable having dinners alone with women, they
should stop having dinners alone with men as well. "Group lunches
for everyone, " she said.
Michelle Ma contributed to this article.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com and
Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 24, 2018 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
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