{"id":6617,"date":"2018-11-02T11:05:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T18:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knowledgecity.com\/blog\/?p=6617"},"modified":"2024-04-18T13:37:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:37:50","slug":"google-walkouts-womens-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knowledgecity.com\/blog\/google-walkouts-womens-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Walkouts Over Women\u2019s Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Worldwide outrage over Google\u2019s mishandling of credible sexual misconduct allegations and general mistreatment of women workers reached a boiling point Thursday<\/a>, resulting in thousands of employees hitting the street in a global wave of Google walkouts to demand change from the search engine behemoth.

\"Determined<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google Walkouts Spurred by Revelation of $90M Payout<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Google walkouts follow a turbulent week for the Internet giant after The New York Times <\/em>reported<\/a> late this past week that Google actively protected three executives against valid sexual misconduct allegations. The Times<\/em> most prominently featured Google\u2019s treatment of Andy Rubin, the \u201cFather of Android\u201d software. According to the Times<\/em>, Google gave Rubin a \u201chero\u2019s farewell\u201d in October 2014 when he left the company.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI want to wish Andy all the best with what\u2019s next,\u201d Larry Page, Google\u2019s then chief executive, said at the time. \u201cWith Android, he created something truly remarkable \u2014 with a billion-plus happy users.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However, Google failed to publicly concede to the nature of Rubin\u2019s exit from the company, which involved valid sexual misconduct claims from a fellow employee. Following an investigation<\/a>, Google released Rubin, granting him a $90 million<\/a> exit package despite the incident. This was just one of several instances of sexual impropriety that the Times<\/em> detailed involving top company executives, one of whom retained his job and only resigned<\/a> after the article went public.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Immediately after the article\u2019s publication, Google SEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company had terminated 48 people due to sexual misconduct<\/a> claims in the past two years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google Walkouts Reveal Significant Sexual Misconduct Issues<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However, Googlers say that the acknowledged mistreatment of women at the company is the mere tip of the iceberg in terms of significant gender equality shortfalls at the company.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cFor every story in the NYT<\/em>, there\u2019s thousands of other stories that aren\u2019t told,\u201d an anonymous Google employee told BuzzFeed<\/a><\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s why so many people are getting involved.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Buzzfeed<\/em> captured a particularly wrenching example of these untold stories, detailing an employee who reported to Google human resources that a coworker <\/a>tried to \u201cdrag her away from the crowd\u201d at a company event and was essentially told that she \u201cwas the problem.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThey told me I\u2019m no longer allowed to talk to anybody about this issue at all…recommended therapy,\u201d the employee said. \u201cThey said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, keep working with this person\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to the female worker, nothing happened despite an investigation. Consequently, she continued working with this individual for three months, crying in her car for an hour every day before work.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While these stories are far from unique to Google, the company prides itself on its employee standards. Furthermore, its workers have exceptionally high skill levels and incredible optionality in the workforce. Consequently, Googlers have unusual leverage over the company to institute significant corporate policy changes and feel optimistic that their voices will be heard at Google and hopefully open the conversation up in other companies as well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019re optimistic that we\u2019ve opened a conversation about structural change here and elsewhere,\u201d Clair Stapleton, a YouTube (a Google subsidiary) product marketing manager, told the Times<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Google Walkouts List of Demands<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One reason why this dialogue is gaining incredible traction is that the conversation is surging across mainstream and social media. Furthermore, there\u2019s no precedent for the Google walkouts to demand this sort of widespread institutional change.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The organizers behind the Google walkouts posted a list of five demands on their Twitter feeds that The Cut<\/a> <\/em>detailed in an article Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  1. \u201cAn end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Googlers could also bring a supporter, representative, or co-worker when meeting with HR.<\/li>\r\n
  2. \u201cA commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity, for example making sure there are women of color at all levels of the organization, and accountability for not meeting this commitment.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Google would provide internal reports of any professional advancement or salary gaps across workers of different genders, ethnicities, and race.<\/li>\r\n
  3. \u201cA publicly disclosed sexual harassment transparency report.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>This disclosure would include the number of harassment claims and their originating division, the types of claims, number of victims and accused who have left the company, and the value of severance packages.<\/li>\r\n
  4. \u201cA clear, uniform, globally inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Google\u2019s HR department would be more independent from senior management and more accessible for all Google workers, including contractors and temporary employees.<\/li>\r\n
  5. \u201cElevate the Chief Diversity Officer to answer directly to the CEO and make recommendations directly to the board of directors. In addition, appoint an employee representative to the board.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>The CDO and employee representative would enforce these demands and propose necessary changes.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Protestors in Google Walkouts \u201cAre Just Getting Started\u201d<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    While there\u2019s no deadline for Google\u2019s acceptance or rejection of the group\u2019s terms, Googlers have had significant success in organizing protests over numerous issues during the past year. In early 2018, thousands of employees petitioned<\/a> for the company to stop working on a military artificial intelligence project. In the end, Google pledged<\/a> to not engage in weaponized AI projects. Googlers have also stood up against an alleged censorship-friendly\u00a0\u00a0Google Search App<\/a>\u00a0for the Chinese market.\u00a0However, the status of this development is currently unknown. But, the Googlers have made it clear that they\u2019re not backing down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \u201cWhile leadership is listening to us, let us be clear: we are just getting started,\u201d Stapleton announced to a cheering crowd in New York.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    And, it appears that the Google walkouts have backed the powers that be into a corner with Google brass offering official endorsements of the protests.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \u201cMoments like this show that we didn\u2019t always get it right, and so we are committed to doing better,\u201d Pichai told<\/a> an interviewer at a Dealbook<\/em> conference.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Worldwide outrage over Google\u2019s mishandling of credible sexual misconduct allegations and general mistreatment of women workers reached a boiling point Thursday, resulting in thousands of employees…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[4001,120,126],"tags":[1381,1383,1385,1377,903,1361,1365,1363,1367,1369,1373,1371,1375,1391,1389,1387,1379],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle Walkouts Over Women\u2019s Rights - KnowledgeCity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thousands of Googlers hit the street Thursday in a global wave of Google walkouts to demand gender equality from the search engine behemoth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knowledgecity.com\/blog\/google-walkouts-womens-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Walkouts Over Women\u2019s Rights - 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