
Uber board member cracks ‘inappropriate’ joke about women at company event - Insanity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/06/13/a-top-uber-board-member-just-cracked-a-joke-about-women-at-the-worst-possible-time/?tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&pushid=5940571c658e691d00000044
======
jacquesm
The new culture at Uber is off to a running start. At least he apologized but
seriously, this kind of thing at a meeting "aimed at addressing the harassment
of women and other unprofessional conduct within the company"? Totally tone
deaf.

~~~
throwaway74953
The "joke" occurred shortly after Arianna made a "white men" "joke". I doubt
he would have made his comment if she hadn't first made a similar comment that
prompted that sort of kneejerk retort among two colleagues on familiar terms
who are both at least two or more generations removed from the average tech
worker. Arianna is 66 and Bonderman is 74.

[https://youtu.be/b4q-WwXgYHU](https://youtu.be/b4q-WwXgYHU)

That said, the comment was still inappropriate.

~~~
erroneousfunk
"My goal was to increase the diversity of the board, much though [sic] I love
my white male colleagues" Then she starts talking about diverse hires on the
board. Not sure how it was a joke. I don't think anyone would have raised an
eyebrow at that. It wasn't derogatory at all.

------
Mz
It seems to me like the primary reason this turned into a big deal is because
of context, not the remark per se. Not only was it at a large meeting where
they were supposedly going to improve on the issue of how women are treated
there, but it interrupted the only female board member. So, that is why this
has turned into drama. It speaks volumes wrt the level of lack of respect for
women there and just how deep it runs.

It just makes it an easier target that the remark was about women. But I am
guessing this would have become news even if he had said something else
because the point is "We are gathered here today to talk about how we are
going to up our game and treat women with genuine respect...let me show you
exactly how much respect I have for women by interrupting the only female
board member to kind of mock her and the entire agenda we are discussing."

That is my read on it.

------
hyperpape
Since this has come up in the thread, I'll put this out there. While this
would be an inappropriate comment regardless of whether it's true, it's also
based on a unsupported and probably false generalization:
[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4488](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4488).

~~~
safek
The strange thing is that the same comment has been used in _support_ of
gender equality. In Iceland, where every board must have at least 40%
representation for each gender, they interviewed some female CEOs, who said
something like, "Men are selfish! That's how we got the financial crises.
Women will look out for the good of the group. It's in our DNA."

~~~
AstralStorm
Aggressive feminists are overrepresented because it takes a special kind of
woman to even want to compete in aggression and sometimes sociopathy with male
CEOs...

~~~
greglindahl
Are you assuming that only women can be feminists? Historically that is not
true.

Here's a nice introduction:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_and_feminism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_and_feminism)

------
thebiglebrewski
Wow, what a damn idiot. I mean seriously. I just can't think of any way to
paint this as ok! I've already uninstalled Uber and tell my friends to avoid
it like the plague but this just takes the cake. They really think people are
going to take their "investigation" seriously when they act like this?

------
DrJokepu
What the hell is wrong with these people?

~~~
jacquesm
To them it's normal. If you haven't seen any different then it can be very
hard to get rid of your instantaneous embarrassing responses.

I worked for a short period at a large US bank branch office in the
Netherlands. The stuff that got said there about the women working there when
they were out of earshot (and sometimes within) does not bear repeating. It's
only in the last decade or so that this is (slowly) improving but workplace
harassment is on the order of the day and I won't hold my breath until it is
all behind us.

------
cududa
_Top two uber execs step aside because of claims of misogyny_

 _Ariana Huffington lays out course corrections_

David Bonderman: "Yah but fuckn' women, amirite?"

------
ceejayoz
This got flagged off the home page pretty quick.

------
skizm
To anyone who did not bother to read the article, the comment was something
along the lines of "adding more women to the board will ensure more talking."

The remark wasn't directed at an individual, wasn't harassing, wasn't
despairing, wasn't sexual, wasn't crude, and definitely wasn't in any way
malicious. I realize it's trendy to get offended now-a-days (one word?
three?), but come on. Seriously? This is what we've been reduced to getting
worked up over?

To be honest, the context of the meeting makes this _extremely tame_ joke kind
of funny. I have _zero_ problems with this and am actually a little salty I
spent the time to type this reply about a non-story.

~~~
ceejayoz
"Women talk so much, am I right?" is a sexist statement, and it's particularly
egregious when interrupting a fellow (edit: _female_ ) board member _at an
event announcing the new, non-sexist culture of the company_.

~~~
DavideNL
Why do you interpret it as being negative? It might as well be a positive
thing?!

I guess it depends a lot on the context and _how_ it was said/meant.

~~~
macscam
Whether or not positive and negative sterotypes are used are kind of besides
the point, its the fact that a stereotype was used at all. Let me give an
example, if you say im a jew so I have money, os that negative or positive?
Even if you think its positive, the fact that the stereotype is validated
implies that other stereotypes are true.

Now this particular joke is pretty tame, certainly. If he wanted to he could
have add the qualifier " more talking, bringing more perspectives to the
table" or something. But the way he said it could have been interpreted as a
stereotype, and therefore is problematic

~~~
DavideNL
Thanks for your reply, good point!

i appreciate it when people do that instead of just downvoting - which doesn't
exactly stimulate communication :) (It would be cool if downvoting on HN would
only be permitted if also commenting...)

------
jsight
This was a mistake, but it is only outrageous in the context of the company's
past misbehavior. It does make it clear just how difficult it will be to move
past their present issues, though.

~~~
MBCook
It's a sexist comment to make in any situation.

It's just ESPECIALLY glaring during the meeting about sexual harassment.

------
furioussloth
It is hard to judge if this was inappropriate without knowing the context. It
can be seen as a positive thing to have more communication or "talking" if the
board has more female members. It also depends on the guy's relationship with
people present. It can be considered a joke if they were on friendly terms. I
think journalism can be put to better use than reporting a non-story like
this.

Edit. After knowing this was in all hands meeting I think it is inappropriate.

~~~
vorotato
Actually it's inappropriate regardless of the context. Don't make bias jokes.
If your friends make "your people" jokes, they're not your friends.

