Three high profile discrimination cases against three separate companies have been filed by Asian American women in Silicon Valley.
This may not be a coincidence, according to a story in Think Progress.
The latest to file a case is Tina Huang who is seeking class action status in her discrimination case against Twitter. Huang alleges gender discrimination saying she was denied a promotion because of her sex and was later dismissed after she complained. Twitter has denied the allegation saying it is supportive of a diverse workplace and denied Huang was fired. It says she “voluntarily resigned.”
The two other cases have been previously reported by AsAmNews. Ellen Pao sued the power venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins for $16 million. The case is now in deliberations.
More recently, Chia Hong charged both gender and racial discrimination against Facebook. The company says its records show it treated Hong fairly.
What the odds all three gender discrimination cases would be filed by Asian Americans?
A study released this year by Professor Joan Williams found Asian American women face barriers not found by other women in the tech world.
“Asian American women are more likely than other women to report pressures to play traditionally feminine roles, such as office mother or dutiful daughter, but also backlash for stereotypically masculine behaviors such as being assertive and self-promoting,” said Williams.
A report by Lillian Wu found Asian American women in upper management in STEM professions lag behind women of other ethnicities.
The same is true for Asian American women in Fortune 500 companies. You can read about that in Think Progress.
