Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley is Real — Vinod Khosla — YOU ARE WRONG #MeToo !
On July 23, 2017, this article in the San Jose Mercury News shared your views on Sexual Harassment: http://www.siliconbeat.com/2017/07/21/vinod-khosla-sexual-harassment-silicon-valley-perceived-reality/ .
As a “longtime and influential” member of the Silicon Valley VC community your voice has more weight than most, so it was disturbing to read your thoughtless comments about sexual harassment in this article. With all due respect sir, YOU ARE WRONG!
1) “Sexual harassment in Silicon Valley is rare.” As a woman with 40-years experience in Silicon Valley high tech, I can assure you sexual harassment is not rare here. Whenever people of power, who lack self-control and moral standards, are given unfettered power, sexual harassment can and does occur. Not just at the lofty VC firms, but throughout every IT company — startup to Fortune 100, from top to bottom.
2) “….compared to other industries.” Actually, it’s worse in high tech. Start with the fact that only 25% of high tech workers are female. Just the 1:4 ratio of women to men sets up a disadvantage for women. Per the article, in a survey of tech women, “60 percent of women reported unwanted sexual advances at work.” By comparison, a July 2016 survey by Hart Research* found that 40% of women in the restaurant industry have suffered sexual harassment. *http://bit.ly/2tS0KdA
3) “…overblown due to the high media profiles of the alleged harassers.” Some consider the problem of sexual harassment in high tech has been seriously “underblown” for decades. We women of the ’70s were just so thrilled to secure professional jobs and promotions, that we’ve kept our mouths shut and our heads down. We didn’t “blow the whistle” for fear of losing our jobs. (I once lost a job for refusing the sleep with the CEO. I never said anything for fear of being black balled in my career. ) It’s a small valley and word gets around. I applaud the bravery of the young women of today who are speaking out.
4) “I did not know that there was any discrimination,” Khosla said. Sir, sexual harassment and sex discrimination are two very different things. Both are important. Both exist in the Silicon Valley. YOU should know they exist and if not you should learn about them.
5) “Khosla also said no women felt harassed by him or his employees at Khosla Ventures.” Have you ever asked them?
Mr. Khosla, women are trying hard to have a fair shot. We don’t “perceive” these problems; we LIVE these realities every day. YOU have now made our problem worse. Please learn more about these issues so that you can become part of the solution. Let’s have lunch and I’ll tell you my personal sexual harassment stories and how I succeeded in spite of them!
Frances Mann-Craik
CEO Addison Marketing
