JUDY WOODRUFF: Thousands of employees walked out of Google offices in more than 40 locations
around the world today, protesting the company's handling of sexual misconduct claims.
The New York Times reported last week that Google had paid millions of dollars to departing
executives accused of sexual harassment, and never made the allegations public.
Among them, Android creator Andy Rubin, who received $90 million on his way out the door.
Rubin denies forcing a female Google employee into a sexual act, despite the fact that an
internal investigation found the claim credible.
Employees in New York City held a rally after leaving their office, and called for a broader
cultural shift at the company.
WOMAN: We demand structural change in the name of transparency, accountability, and
equity.
TANUJA GUPTA, Google Employee: This is not really just for myself.
It's for everyone here.
We also know that we have the eyes of many companies looking at us.
And we have always been a vanguard company, so if we don't lead the way, nobody else will.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Katie Benner co-wrote that original New York Times story that disclosed
how Google has handled sexual misconduct claims.
She's been following the walkouts today, and she joins me now.
Katie Benner, thank you for joining us once again.
Was this the turnout that had been expected today?
KATIE BENNER, The New York Times: This turnout exceed expectations by far.
We had reported that we expected about 1,500 people.
Other people thought it would be a few thousand.
At this point, we have, you know, unverified accounts, but clearly a lot of head count
going on, of up to more than 10 percent of the company's overall 94,000 employees has
walked out today.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Of the people you have talked to, what's motivating them?
KATIE BENNER: Sure.
I think they feel motivated by a few things.
There's been a long-simmering tension within Google about the way that women are treated.
It's not just the idea that sexual harassment has gone unaddressed.
Its also the fact that Google has refused to be transparent about whether or not men
and women are paid equally.
It's the idea that top leaders of the company, by having high-profile affairs that were very
obvious, they were known secrets, that they treated the women at the company like their
personal dating pool.
And what kind of message does that send?
And then, of course, the straw that probably broke the camel's back was the report that
Andy Rubin received $90 million, which is an extraordinary sum, after a credible claim
of sexual assault.
These things altogether send a clear message, which is that men are more valued than women.
And for a company as important as Google, as high-profile, where the employees are as
highly paid, they said that the time -- it's now the time to stop.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Treating women as their own personal dating pool, that stood out to me
as something you just said.
I mean, describe what was going -- the culture there.
KATIE BENNER: Well, interestingly, the woman who accused Andy Rubin of assaulting her,
she was an employee.
There were other employees who he dated at the company.
David Drummond, the chief legal officer, he dated a woman at the company.
In that case, she ended up leaving.
And you can see that their career trajectories were very different.
He has become extraordinarily wealthy and is one of the most important men in Silicon
Valley, if not the United States.
And then, of course, Sergey Brin, one of the founders, he also had a high-profile affair.
That woman is also no longer at the company, losing out on the extraordinary compensation
packages that Google pays its employees, while he remains one of the largest shareholders
with a controlling vote in the company, and, of course, no consequences for him either.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So what are -- the women who walked out today, what do they want, women
and men employees at the company?
KATIE BENNER: Yes, I think it's important to emphasize that it wasn't just women walking
out.
It was people of all gender identities, of all ages, of all races and ethnicities walking
out in support of a broader movement for more equity at Google.
They wanted very specific things.
They demanded greater accountability, a transparency report around sexual harassment, sexual misconduct
at the company.
They wanted a representative on the board of the company, an employee representative
to -- who could speak to the board and say, this is what the employees want and what we're
concerned about.
They also wanted a pay equity report.
They wanted transparency around whether women are truly being paid less than men.
And they also wanted a global, unified way to report sexual misconduct that would be
safe.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And what is the company saying about this?
I saw the company said to employees, in terms of this walkout, go ahead, you're welcome
to do it.
But what are they saying about these other points that they're being asked to change?
KATIE BENNER: I think the company's been very quiet.
Sundar Pichai, the leader of the company, has been very, very smart about how he's handled
this.
He's been supportive of the rallies.
He says he's been supportive of the employees.
But we won't really understand exactly where he stands until we see whether or not he takes
seriously the demands made by the employees.
These are not extraordinarily off-the-wall, crazy, extreme demands.
In many ways, they are quite reasonable, especially for a company in which, again, Sergey Brin
and Larry Page control all the voting shares, and they do make all the final decisions.
So, these are just questions, queries and demands, saying, we would like a little bit
more accountability in this situation.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How does Google, Katie Benner, compare to other Silicon Valley's -- Silicon
Valley companies in terms of transparency, treating -- giving women opportunity to rise
up through the ranks?
KATIE BENNER: So, that's one of the debates that has been around Google and a lot of Silicon
Valley companies forever.
I think that the culture of technology is that, merit always wins out.
If you work really hard, and you're the smartest, you will rise.
I have never seen an industry or reported on an industry that believes that more than
the technology industry.
Google is the leader of the industry, and they probably have spoken about that more
than any other company.
At the end of the day, though, if you look at the number of women who work at the company,
and if you look at the lack of transparency around pay data, if you look at incidents
like Andy Rubin, I think there's a strong case to be made that that's not the case.
And so the employees now, very data-driven, they want to know what the facts are, they
want to know the numbers, and they feel they can use that to help create a solution.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Katie Benner, reporting on all this for The New York Times, thank you.
KATIE BENNER: Thank you.