By Jamaal Ryan
So check this shit out:
Talk about poor PR training.
I’m not gonna get into the preachy “Women should get paid
equally” speech because, well… no shit they should. That’s a given. The archaic
justification that women should get paid less because “They have to take care
of their children” is about 70 years outdated.
Granted, this was in response to a specific question about
women’s raises at a women’s conference, but that’s not an excuse for the tone-deaf
language specifying that women shouldn’t ask for a bump in salary.
Before I ridicule the whole notion of “karma” within the
context of his response, I do want to establish an understanding that the idea
of karma could mean something totally different to Nadella than how we perceive
it here in the west. Karma is treated with a level of tangibility in Indian
cultures, particularly in the Hindu religion. My mother is a Buddhist (we’re
Trinidadian, not Indian in case you’re asking), and the balance between “Good Karma
& Bad Karma” is revered with the utmost importance. So I’m reluctant to be
insensitive and claim, “Karma is bullshit”.
Having said that, I still think that his answer is
ridiculous.
Though the question was fishing for his advice to women in
the work force, Nadella, as the CEO of one of the biggest tech companies on the
planet, should take ownership and responsibility of the gender pay gap, not
leave it up to “karma”. This was his chance to encourage women to ask for
deserved salary raises while establishing Microsoft’s full support matching
their dollar to their male counter parts. He may have double backed
on his statements, but I’m afraid that the 29% of women that work under the
tech giant may get a bit thinner.
And rightfully so.
Image courtesy of The Telegraph
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