Tuesday, June 13, 2017

An Uber Board Member Made A Sexist Joke At A Staff Meeting About Resolving Sexism At The Company

Uber board member David Bonderman took the opportunity at an all-hands meeting held to discuss an investigation into reports of sexual harassment and discrimination at Uber to joke about how women talk too much.

Out of eight individuals, just two of Uber's board members — Arianna Huffington and Wan Ling Martello — are female. Martello was brought on earlier this week, a fact which Huffington pointed to as a sign of improvement.

"We have been joined on the board by an incredible leader who also happens to be a woman," Huffington said in front of an audience of most of Uber's staff. "There’s a lot of data that shows that when there is one woman on the board it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman.”

That's when Bonderman cut in, saying, "Actually what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking."

The comments, made public via a recording of the meeting leaked to Yahoo Finance, were widely seen as inappropriate, especially given Uber's ongoing issues with what some employees have described as a top-down culture of sexism.

Bonderman apologized to the entire company via email Tuesday afternoon.

"I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that as directed at her during today's discussion," Bonderman wrote. "It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it."



from BuzzFeed - Tech https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/an-uber-board-member-made-a-sexist-joke-at-a-staff-meeting?utm_term=4ldqpia

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