(1) The tennis world has been mired with controversy
Now, if I was a lady player, Id go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they carry the sport. Those were the words used by Raymond Moore during an interview that took place before Victoria Azarenka beat Serena Williams in the womens final he was criticised within an inch of his life for making the comment.
It doesnt stop there. He claimed women on the tour rode the coast-tails of the mens game and were very, very lucky they were able to play.
Serena Williams responded to Moores remarks, saying: Obviously I dont think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that.
Even Billie Jean King, the American former World number one tennis player, had much to say about it:
Disappointed in #RaymondMoore comments. He is wrong on so many levels. Every player, especially the top players, contribute to our success
” Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) March 20, 2016
Moore later apologised for his comments that were in poor taste and erroneous but the damage had been done.
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(2) Women are apparently always ready to fight one another
In April 2016, Jos dos Santos, CEO of South African’telecoms giantCell C, came under fire for an interview he did on a radio station. He said: The company has good-looking women, clever women and smart women. They just have a different way of managing, they have a different way of engaging meetings and engaging with parties and it creates a different dynamic.
If I can use the term on your radio station,”women do have a b*tch-switch though and, boy, if you see two women fighting, it’s worse than two men having an argument.”
Of course, he was insinuatingthat females change moods frequently and fight with each other. This wasnt received by the public at all he was slammed on social media and accused of sexism.
Cell C CEO speech is absolute trash made women at Cell C sound like unstable eye candy pic.twitter.com/PVHwlc3QzF
” Mmajase (@zeldaditto) April 19, 2016
The CEO further maintained that the role offemale employees wasto simply be so gorgeous that they inspired the men to better present themselves.
“I mean, can you imagine, you’ve got 12 gorgeous women and say four, five of them walk into your company,” he said. “Do you know what it does to the atmosphere in that company The men dress better, they shave every morning.”
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(3) Females should rely on karma if they want a raise
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, hit headlines in 2014 when he declared that instead of asking for a pay rise, female employees should rely on karma to give them the rewards they deserve.
Its not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” he said.
Female executives did thus not need to push for pay equality.
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Cue internet outrage.
He tried to back tack though, declaring later that he had been inarticulate . He also told staff he had answered the question completely wrong , saying: I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
(4) Lipstick, heels good
In February 2016, a court case involving a female assistant showed the potential cost of defending discrimination cases. David Noake, the boss behind a banned cancer “wonder drug” was foundguilty of sex discrimination after writingon his personal assistant’s job application:?”Red lipstick, heels good; tattoos, do not approve; wearing a dress excellent.
She also stated that Noakes remarked after interviewing a woman: We can’t hire her as she is ugly and overweight and I only employ beautiful women.
On another occasion he allegedly said: “How are we supposed to hire her, did you see what she was wearing and the size of her We can’t have her on the frontline representing the cancer drug looking like that.”
His assistant even claimed that he once told her a colleague would only be polite to her if she was good-looking.
First Women Summit 2016: Should prejudice sometimes be ignored to further female agenda
He was taken to an employment tribunal by said assistant, Lucia Pagliarone, who further claimed she had witnessed sexist treatment after going to work for him. She was awarded compensation of 10,500.
Everyone puts their foot in it from time to time some of us more than others. But for company CEOs, saying the wrong thing, even if their intentions are good, can be disastrous.
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