Microsoft CEO dives into hot water telling women not to ask for raise at Phoenix conference
Oct 10, 2014, 10:48 AM | Updated: 11:00 am
PHOENIX — Thousands of tech-savvy women gathered at the Phoenix Convention Center for a conference celebrating their aptitude this week got the opposite message from the head of a major tech company.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told a roomful of attendees Thursday that instead of asking for a raise, women should “have faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along.”
During his keynote address, Nadella also said, “That might be one of the initial ‘super powers’ that, quite frankly, women [who] don’t ask for a raise have,” he added. “It’s good karma. It will come back.”
Twitter reacted:
Hey ladies- are we going to all go ask for raises today?! @microsoft #ghc14
— Andrea Chiou (@andreachiou) October 10, 2014
Satya Nadella 'talking like a patronizing, penny-pinching middle manager' http://t.co/PlCWHWeUeO #ghc14
— Sarita Pandey (@saritapandey) October 10, 2014
In @satyanadella's Wednesday memo, he said he was going to #ghc14 to “listen and learn.”
So why the hell did he go on stage?
— Dylan Wilbanks (@dylanw) October 10, 2014
Mystery of women's pay gap cleared up. The missing 22% is in karma http://t.co/0XCd0xsXSl pic.twitter.com/GSmS4uzVmb
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 10, 2014
Nadella later apologized on social media and to employees in an email posted on the company’s website.
Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias #GHC14
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 9, 2014
Thanks for the feedback – further thoughts here: http://t.co/VbKkvsuv1N #GHC14
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 10, 2014
More than 900 companies and organizations sent representatives to Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. The conference ends its three-days run Friday. The event included job fairs, panels on cyber security, data science and computing.
