![]() ![]() That they’re being seen as evidence of gender bias, rather than “micro-aggressions” in an extensive gender discrimination lawsuit is a positive sign we’re making progress, according to Williams. “That said, this case remains a game changer, even if she lost,” Williams says.įor one, some of the incidents presented in the suit and recounted during witness testimony were in line with patterns of subtle bias against women, Williams pointed out, including being asked to take notes at a meeting, walking the tightrope between being seen as “too passive” and “too harsh,” and being denied opportunities because of her pregnancy. ![]() If Pao had won the case, Williams believes, the trial would have much deeper reverberations in the industry. “It’s easier to assess that, if after Pao complained, Kleiner would turn against her-with comments like ‘she had a female chip on her shoulder.’” “There was a lot of conflicting evidence and a lot of it came down to who you believe, and judgement,” she says. After more than an hour, the jury returned and was polled again, and the final vote on the fourth claim was 9-3.Īccording to Williams, it’s widely known that it is easier to prove retaliation, and more difficult to prove than discrimination. Nine votes are required to reach a final verdict.Īs a result, the judge sent jurors back to deliberate further. In a bizarre legal hiccup, the jury returned to the courtroom earlier this afternoon saying it had reached a verdict and found against Pao on all four of her claims.īut a poll of individual jurors by Judge Harold Kahn determined that only eight had voted 'no' on Pao's fourth claim-that Kleiner had retaliated against Pao for complaining about gender bias at the firm by firing her. The jurors parsed twenty-one days of testimony to come to their decision. Kleiner Perkins failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent that discrimination, she said, and instead retaliated by firing her. She accused Kleiner Perkins of discriminating against her based on her gender and said the firm retaliated against her after she complained. 19 for a write-up on the entire book.Pao's suit consisted of four separate but related allegations. “I felt, in that moment, that Kleiner had taken everything from me,” Pao writes.Ĭheck back Sept. She was pregnant at the time, and in June 2012, she suffered a miscarriage, which she suggests was at least partially caused by the stress of the case. “The negativity wore me down,” Pao writes. ![]() For example, she says in an effort to avoid antagonizing the jurors, she tried hard not to get fired up over questions posed by Kleiner’s lawyers - and as a result came across as “distant, even a bit robotic.” Maybe she would have been seen as more likable if she’d spent more time with the press, and prepared talking points every day, she writes.Īnd she describes the backlash she faced after filing the lawsuit. Pao describes some regrets she has about the trial. Partners can increase their own odds by excluding all of your investments.” “And we’re all trying to make as many investments as possible because chances are low that any one investment is going to be successful. “Venture capital’s underbelly of competitiveness exists in part because the more I invest, the less money for you, my partner, to make your investments,” Pao writes. Or, she says, they trash and block investments they don’t want to see go through. Partners trade votes for investments on a quid-pro-quo basis, she writes. “Taking your seat at the table doesn’t work so well, I thought, when no one wants you there,” Pao writes.Īnd Pao provides an inside look into the cutthroat world of venture capital, where she says backstabbing and under-the-table deals are commonplace. But the conversation quickly turned to porn star Jenna Jameson, and then to the men’s dating preferences. She describes an instance where, while on a private plane for a business trip with Kleiner partners, a tech CEO and another investor, she tried to “lean in” by taking a “power seat” at the front of the plane with the men. The excerpt of Pao’s book released on Sunday sheds new light on some of the stories of exclusion she told at trial. ![]()
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