And there will be more lurid details available to peruse on line in the Ellen Pao workplace discrimination lawsuit against the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins.
Let me point out, not for the first time, how strong — even tough — a woman has to be to file a headline-making lawsuit like this, and to live through it successfully.
SAN FRANCISCO — Many women in technology believe Silicon Valley is stuck in the past. They say they are rarely hired, promoted or taken seriously, and are confronted on a daily basis by sexism and harassment. They feel demeaned and discouraged.
Now, in a suit set to go to trial this week, a jury will pass judgment about whether one woman suffered discrimination. The proceedings could resonate widely: A finding of liability will be seen as a vindication of women’s complaints about the high-tech world; failure of the suit might supply ammunition to those who feel gender issues are being overplayed.
The accuser is Ellen Pao, who worked at one of the valley’s most prominent venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. At the center of the suit is John Doerr, a legendary investor who was Ms. Pao’s boss and, according to court papers, practically a father to her. How the man with the Midas touch let his very proud, very image-conscious shop become embroiled in scandal is a question lurking behind the suit.
“In early 2011, KPCB partners led by Chi-Hua Chien organized a dinner event at the San Francisco home of one of the partners. The dinner was for select KPCB partners and leading executives at KPCB-funded companies, as well as leading executives of other companies KPCB thought were influential. Only male KPCB partners and male executives were invited and attended. Mr. Chien deliberately excluded all KPCB women from the event solely on the basis of their gender. Mr. Chien organized a second all-male dinner at the same partner’s home in August 2011. Women were excluded for the same reason. At a weekly Digital Group partner meeting before the second dinner, Mr. Doerr brought up the all-male dinner in response to a female partner’s complaint; Mr. Chien replied that women were not invited because they would ‘kill the buzz’.
From Kleiner Court Memo:
“Additionally, one of KPCB’s defenses to Pao’s discrimination claim is that Pao lacked the ability to lead others, build consensus, and be a team player, which is crucial to a successful career as a venture capital senior investing partner.
View Documents in the Case »
Ms. Pao says a married colleague pressured her into an affair and then retaliated against her when she broke it off. When she complained, she says she was discriminated against and got poor reviews, resulting ultimately in her dismissal. She accuses Kleiner of treating her “despicably, maliciously, fraudulently and oppressively” from “an improper and evil motive amounting to malice.”
UPDATE 3/27/2015. She lost. Ellen Pao Loses Silicon Valley Gender Bias Case Against Kleiner Perkins – NYTimes.com.
UPDATE 6/5/2015. She’s filed an appeal.
Ms. Pao, who lost a gender-bias lawsuit against an elite venture capital firm, made the procedural move in San Francisco Superior Court.
Source: Ellen Pao Files Notice of Appeal in Silicon Valley Bias Suit – NYTimes.com