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A new instigation is underway into sexual harassment claims at Uber.
Hours after ex-Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, wrote a post on her blog about the sexual harassment she experienced at the company, Uber’s Chief Executive, Travis Kalanick, opened an investigation into the sexual harassment claims at Uber.
Ms. Fowler states that she has screenshots showing that her direct supervisor was sending her chat messages trying to get her to have sex with him. She took these screenshots to upper management, but was essentially dismissed. In an interview with the New York Times, Ms. Fowler stated that upper management told her that he was such a high performer that they wouldn’t “feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part.”
Uber’s Chief Executive, Travis Kalanick, saw Ms. Fowlers post online about the sexual harassment and made an immediate statement saying there would be an immediate investigation into the matter.
Ms. Fowler left Uber in December, and has been working for the company Stripe. It is unclear if the continued harassment was the leading factor that caused her to leave Uber.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a continuous struggle, especially for women in STEM fields. Women in computer programming, engineering, and other male dominated fields struggle with harassment, discrimination, and women’s rights. In particular, issues such as sexual harassment, gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and equal pay are huge issues that still have yet to be addressed properly.
Perhaps if more women speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment and discrimination in their workplaces it will open a louder dialogue on the subjects and help push for reforms in the workplace.
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