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Facebook executive says progress has 'dragged to a halt' despite #MeToo efforts

By Deepa Seetharaman and Emily Glazer 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (October 25, 2018).

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 25, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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