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TECHNOLOGY Tuesday 4 July 2017

Silicon Valley’s sexism problem: Could the tide be turning?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY venture capital industry accusers, Niniane
AP Technology Writer has often downplayed or Wang, wrote that she
NEW YORK (AP) — Sexism turned a blind eye to is- “laughed out loud” read-
in Silicon Valley has been sues of discrimination and ing the apology.
an open secret for years. worse. The problems can Indeed, plenty of skepti-
What’s changing: A grow- be particularly acute for cism remains about the
ing number of women are women leading startups, tech industry’s ability to
coming forward with per- as their companies are de- change overnight.
sonal stories of sexual ha- pendent on clubby ven- After the allegations
rassment and discrimina- ture capitalists for funding. against Caldbeck came to
tion, prompting apologies, So what’s prompting light, LinkedIn co-founder
resignations and plenty of more women to speak and former CEO Reid Hoff-
hand-wringing. out? Credit Susan Fowler, man lamented a “lack of
It’s too soon to tell wheth- a former Uber engineer outrage and commentary”
er the incidents will lead who outlined a culture of following the VC harass-
to meaningful, long-term harassment at the com- ment reports.
change. But the revela- pany. Uber CEO Travis Ka- In a post on LinkedIn, Hoff-
tions, many implicating in- lanick resigned in the after- man called the renewed
dustry bigshots, are at least math , and the company attention on Silicon Valley’s In this Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, file photo, Uber CEO Travis Ka-
leading to some humbled has promised to institute gender problems “very lanick arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif.
self-reflection in an industry broad changes. good criticism.” He urged Associated Press
long criticized as arrogant Last month, meanwhile, venture capitalists to es-
and self-centered. several female entrepre- tablish human resources often blamed for hiring too that two-thirds of female
In the latest example, prom- neurs told the trade pub- policies — just as compa- few women, the issue is workers and more than
inent venture investor Dave lication The Information nies and other institutions also persistent at VC firms. half of male workers experi-
McClure apologized over about harassment by a do — “so that venture cap- According to a report by enced some form of sexual
the weekend for making partner at the VC firm Bina- italists who engage in such Deloitte and the National harassment, whether from
“inappropriate advances” ry Capital. He and another behavior face the same Venture Capital Associa- customers, co-workers or
toward several women. partner resigned in late sort of consequences that tion, women hold 26 per- bosses. The group called
His apology — titled “I’m June. The accused partner, they would if their overtures cent of senior positions at sexual harassment “en-
a Creep. I’m Sorry” — fol- Justin Caldbeck, issued were directed at an em- VC firms and 11 percent demic to the restaurant in-
lows a New York Times re- an apology, but that itself ployee.” Experts and advo- of investment partners and dustry.”
port that described offen- drew criticism from others cates also have long called equivalent positions. The The Equal Employment
sive behavior by McClure in the tech industry. for improving gender and 2016 report surveyed 1,336 Opportunity Commission
and other prominent ven- “It feels like you’re trying to racial diversity in the indus- firms in the U.S., which the received 6,758 complaints
ture investors, as related by nudge us to feel sorry for try. Companies with more groups say is representa- alleging workplace sexual
female entrepreneurs. On you that you need to leave women overall and more tive of the overall VC work- harassment in 2016, the lat-
Monday, he resigned from your precious firm behind. women in leadership posi- force in the country. est available figure. That’s
the venture capital fund he YOU CAUSED THIS,” Google tions, the thinking goes, are Of course, the tech industry down from 7,944 in 2010
co-founded, 500 Startups. product manager Brenden less likely to face problems isn’t alone. In 2014, the non- — though the decline of
Reports of sexism in the in- Mulligan wrote in a post on of sexism and sexual ha- profit worker rights group complaints does not nec-
dustry are not new, as the Medium. rassment. Restaurant Opportunities essarily indicate a decline
male-dominated tech and One of Caldbeck’s While tech companies are Centers United estimated of incidents. q

Facebook drone could one day provide global internet access

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) -- A solar- to 4 billion people around sensors, new spoilers and tical platforms. The drone runs mostly on
powered drone backed by the world who are currently a horizontal propeller stop- The team was thrilled with autopilot, but there are
Facebook that could one in the dark. ping system to help it bet- the outcome, Gomez said. manned ground crews to
day provide worldwide in- “When Aquila is ready, it will ter land after the crash in “The improvements we manage certain maneu-
ternet access has quietly be a fleet of solar-powered December. It was in the air implemented based on vers.
completed a test flight in planes that will beam inter- for an hour and 46 minutes Aquila’s performance dur- “We successfully gathered
Arizona after an earlier at- net connectivity across the and elevated 3,000 feet ing its first test flight made a a lot of data to help us
tempt ended with a crash world,” he wrote Thursday (910 meters). significant difference in this optimize Aquila’s efficien-
landing. on Facebook. The drone flew with the en- flight,” he said. cy,” Zuckerberg said. “No
Facebook founder Mark The drone’s second flight gineering team watching a The drone weighs about one has ever built an un-
Zuckerberg’s long-term was completed in May at live stream from a helicop- 1,000 pounds (450 kilo- manned airplane that will
plan for the drone, called Yuma Proving Ground, The ter chasing the drone, said grams) and has a longer fly for months at a time, so
Aquila, is to have it and oth- Yuma Sun reported. Martin Luis Gomez, Face- wingspan than a Boeing we need to tune every de-
ers provide internet access The drone flew with more book’s director of aeronau- 747. tail to get this right.”q