Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's misstep: Why 'karma' won't cut it for women and equal pay

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella blew it at a prestigious gathering of women in technology last week by suggesting that women shouldn't ask for raises.  But despite Nadella’s faith in “the system” to give women raises, they're better off asking for them. 

|
Manish Swarup/AP/File
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks to students at the Talent India 2014 program in New Delhi last month. Nadella's foot-in-mouth statement that women shouldn't ask for raises echoed throughout the tech industry and beyond last week, earning him quick derisions on social media and leading to a later apology.

Freshly minted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella blew it big at the most prestigious gathering of women in technology.

Appearing on stage at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on Thursday, Nadella told the largely female audience: “It’s not really about asking for a raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will give you the right raise.”

“That might be one of the initial ‘super powers,’ that quite frankly, women (who) don’t ask for a raise have … It’s good karma. It will come back,” said Nadella, according to Readwrite.

The Twitter backlash from the uncomfortable audience was loud and immediate. Nadella backpedaled in a Tweet of his own: “Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias.” Later he sent a letter of apology to Microsoft employees. “I answered that question completely wrong,” he wrote.

We’ll say. The tech industry has been facing a mounting problem at the paucity of jobs for women – only one in four programmers is female. In all industries, women currently earn only 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

Still, there are signs of change. A NerdWallet study in March found that in cities like Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Centennial, Colorado and Lowell, Massachusetts, the pay gap between men and women shrank more than 30% between 2007 and 2012.

The best occupations for fair pay between genders is respiratory therapists, computer specialists, research analysts, store clerks and medical scientists – all are fields where women make as much as or more than men, according to our analysis. But men who are CEOs, or in businesses related to finance and real estate,earn far more than their female counterparts.

Experts say “karma” isn’t going to cut it when it comes to women asking for a raise.

Why? Research shows that women ask for 30% less money than men do; men initiate salary discussions four times more than women do; women rate themselves negatively compared to men on scientific ability, yet score almost the same as men do.

Schools like Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Houston and Barnard College offer classes for women on negotiation, led by people like Sara Laschever, author of “Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide.”

In short, despite Nadella’s faith in “the system” to give women a raise, you’re better off asking for it.

The post Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s Misstep: Women Should Trust ‘Karma’ for Pay Equity? appeared first on NerdWallet News.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's misstep: Why 'karma' won't cut it for women and equal pay
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2014/1013/Microsoft-CEO-Satya-Nadella-s-misstep-Why-karma-won-t-cut-it-for-women-and-equal-pay
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe