48% of top bank employees are women as compared to 33.2% in Silicon Valley. [Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan]
The Google gap
A spreadsheet compiled by Google staff members finds that female employees are paid less than their male counterparts at most job levels within the company. While the document is far from comprehensive—it includes salary and the bonus information for around 1,200 U.S. Googlers, about 2 percent of the company’s global work force—it doesn’t look great for the tech giant, which is under investigation by the Labor Department for allegations of pay discrimination. [New York Times]
The honorable Jack B. Weinstein, United States federal judge in the Eastern District of New York, is 96 years old, still maintains a full docket, and is shedding light on the lack of gender equality in courtrooms. Last month, “following the lead of a handful of other federal judges, Judge Weinstein issued a court rule urging a more visible and substantive role for young female lawyers working on cases he is hearing.” He recognized that “the lack of female lawyers in leading roles at trials and other court proceedings” is a growing concern, so he made sure to file an official “guidance” rather than just encourage the change informally. [Gender Avenger]
While much attention has been paid recently to sexism in tech (for good reason), a new study published this month serves as an excellent reminder that workplace cultures that are hostile to women are not exclusive to Silicon Valley.
Alice Wu, who will start her doctoral studies in economics at Harvard next year, mined more than a million posts from an anonymous online message board frequented by economists. The site, econjobrumors.com, began as a place for economists to exchange gossip about who is hiring and being hired in the profession. Over time, it evolved into a virtual water cooler frequented by economics faculty members, graduate students and others.
Wu’s analysis of the posts yielded a result that is disturbing to say the least: the 30 words most commonly associated with women (in order) are: hotter, lesbian, bb (short for “baby”), sexism, tits, anal, marrying, feminazi, slut, hot, vagina, boobs, pregnant, pregnancy, cute, marry, levy, gorgeous, horny, crush, beautiful, secretary, dump, shopping, date, nonprofit, intentions, sexy, dated and prostitute. [Broadsheet, 8/21/17]