In a moment seemingly catalyzed by the highly public downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the resulting flood of sexual abuse allegations in the film and media industries, stories from women participating in the #MeToo movement and other public accounts from survivors have sparked a national dialogue about the alarmingly frequent examples of sexual harassment and abuse in the American workplace.
The trend of women coming forward in Hollywood as well as in Washington has parallels with a similar movement of victims of harassment in corporate America coming forward and speaking out against their alleged abusers, often high-profile figures in their industries. In the famously male-dominated industries of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, recent public accounts of sexual misconduct by powerful men have forced companies to confront the open secret of pervasive sexual harassment and a persistent internal culture of silence and disregard around issues of sexual misconduct.
Stories of pervasive sexism and harassment have trickled out of Silicon Valley for many years, but last summer saw a rush of publicly made claims from female startup founders and software engineers that prompted an industry-wide backlash. Largely credited with beginning this latest movement of women speaking out about the issue in tech is Susan Fowler, a former software engineer for Uber who published a damning account last February of her experience of sexual harassment at the company. After leaving Uber last year, Fowler wrote a widely-shared blog post, describing a superior's immediate and unwanted advances during her time at the company and detailing how Uber's HR department failed to address her manager's persistent harassing, and later retaliatory, behavior toward her. In the months following Fowler's writing, an outpouring of stories of harassment and abuse from women in the tech industry left companies struggling to respond to increasing pressure and scrutiny.
These accounts included complaints from female startup founders and software engineers of inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances from potential investors, often in a quasi-professional context. Last summer, multiple high-profile venture capitalists accused of inappropriate behavior towards female entrepreneurs and industry professionals---a list including Binary Capital's Justin Caldbeck, Dave McClure of 500 Startups, and D.F.J.'s Steve Jurvetson - were removed from their positions with their firms.
In the wake of these allegations, the tech industry immediately attempted to respond. Last June, Reid Hoffman, venture capitalist and co-founder of LinkedIn, called for greater internal accountability on the issue, pushing an industry-wide "Decency Pledge." Tweeting that he wanted to "stand with [victims], to speak out, and to act," Hoffman and others vowed to do no further business with known sexual predators. Now, months after the pledge was first circulated, Hoffman argues that his efforts and others like it have "moved the culture in the right direction" and that his female acquaintances in the industry find "that the atmosphere has become much more conducive to being able to speak up."
The new prevalence of accusations has led to speculation about sexual misconduct even where none is alleged. Former Google CEO and Executive Chairman of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Eric Schmidt, for example, announced on December 21 that he would be stepping down from his executive position with Alphabet and retreating to a more limited role in the company. Though no sexual misconduct charges have been publicly brought against Schmidt, some guessed that his abrupt departure had something to do with his history of womanizing.
On Wall Street, recent claims of unwanted advances by senior figures at major financial institutions have resulted in several departures, including that of Omeed Malik, a former senior executive with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Malik left the company in early January, after a young female analyst filed an internal complaint against him. This led to similar reports from other women at the company and an internal investigation into his conduct.
And most recently, real estate mogul and casino owner Steve Wynn was accused in accounts by dozens of people, including employees of his corporation, Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN), and others. Shares of Wynn fell 10% at the news. Wynn has denied the allegations, but has stepped down as finance chair for the Republican National Convention, a post which he had held for under a month.
Sexual misconduct allegations are bad for companies: they are often PR nightmares that can cause stock values to drop, and companies can be held civilly liable. But it remains to be seen whether the #MeToo movement will have a lasting effect on corporate bottom lines, or truly change tech or corporate culture.