The sexism scandal rocking Uber isn't unique to the company, but is everyone's problem, says one Uber engineer.
A sexism scandal has rocked Uber for the last two days after a former engineer published a lengthy blog post about her year at Uber.
In her reflections, former engineer Susan Fowler said she was sexually harassed by her manager, ignored by HR, and was threatened by her manager for even reporting the alleged incidents. Uber's CEO was swift to pledge an urgent investigation and reportedly issued a teary apology to his employees.
Now a female engineer at the company has spoken out as well — not to negate Fowler's claims, but to remind everyone paying attention to the scandal unfold that this is a much bigger problem than just Uber.
"I think this is disgusting and appalling and horrifying and yet I am not surprised at all," wrote Aimee Lucido in a personal blog. "In fact, I’m most surprised at how surprised everyone else seems to be."
Lucido said a large part of her didn't want to go into work, knowing Fowler's claims are just the tip of the iceberg. Yet, her post is a reminder that it's not just Uber that needs work.
"This is everyone's problem," she said.
Lucido pointed to a survey called "Elephant in the Valley" that found that 60% of women in Silicon Valley reported unwanted sexual advances — 65% of those women receiving them specifically from a superior.
"If people only take from this the fact that Uber’s HR department needs work, and the managers are assholes, and Uber needs to release its diversity statistics, then we are missing the point," Lucido said.
Instead, Lucido asks people to continue to spread Fowler's story and listen to their colleagues. If they see something, they should say something.
"Without a doubt, this is a bad situation, and Uber has a lot to clean up. But this was a problem last week, and no matter how much we shouted about it, no one was listening," Lucido said. "As you’re sitting there, reading this post, thanking your lucky stars that your company isn’t like this, remember that the contents of Susan’s post were surprising specifically because Uber employees didn’t think that it was a problem."
