Sheryl Sandberg just said something really important that all working women need to hear
Our copies of “Lean In” are tattered from countless reads, which is why anytime Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, the Queen of “Leaning In” herself Sheryl Sandberg has anything to say about women in the work environment, we stop EVERYTHING and listen.
Recently, in an interview with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Bloomburg, Sandberg took a moment to comment on the Ellen Pao lawsuit that has launched a national conversation about gender discrimination in Silicon Galley. A quick refresher: Pao, a former partner at the venture capitalist firm Kleiner-Perkins, maintains that she was denied promotions based on her gender, and when she brought this issue up, she was unceremoniously fired. On March 27th, Pao lost her suit, the jury in the case sided with her former firm.
“So many women, not just in technology, but across industries, saw their own experiences,” Sandberg says, regarding the trial.
“What’s happening is we have systematic stereotypes of women, and systematic biases of women. For men, likability and success is correlated. As they get more successful, more powerful, they’re better liked. For women, success and likability are negatively correlated. As a woman gets more successful, more powerful, she is less liked.”
Of course, it’s rough hearing this, but the only way we’re going to fix the problem of gender inequality in the work place is by understanding how the system fails to serve women and then working to disrupt and change the system.
“Our biases against women need to be exposed, understood, and changed.” Sandberg told Bloomberg.
Hear, hear.
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