He also defended former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick at the peak of Uber's sexism crisis.

Kutcher has used his platform to support activism before, in particular against human trafficking. But in response to some gentle criticism on LinkedIn, Kutcher responded in the comments of his post that he was starting 'with the basics' to make sure cultural change affects more than human resources policies. Sound Ventures didn't respond to request for comment about the criticisms of this approach. The post noted that 'in the short term we are clearly bound by the existing educated talent pool in STEM' and asked, 'Should investors invest in ideas that they believe to have less merit so as to create equality across a portfolio?' The idea that people underrepresented in tech remain so in part because some of their ideas have 'less merit' and that creating diversity would require lowering the bar is incredibly problematic. The topics up for discussion look at gender inequality in tech as a pipeline problem - one that can be solved by mentorship, advice, and education, without changing the culture of the tech industry. Kutcher - or whoever wrote this post under his name - asks, 'How do we create channels to promote female entrepreneurship?' and 'What advice should we be giving to female entrepreneurs?' These ideas don't address the behavior or bias of the men who already have institutional power in Silicon Valley.

Other questions frame this discussion from the perspective of male investors, too. The question 'What are the clear red lines?' is less about supporting gender equality, and more about protecting powerful men from accusations of sexual harassment or misconduct. The post starts off by asking for rules surrounding 'dating' and 'flirting' in the workplace - not the top concern for women affected by sexism and discrimination in tech. Instead of asking how top venture capitalists like himself could change their behavior to make tech more inclusive, Kutcher's post prompted discussion about the pipeline of women in STEM education and about how people can flirt in the workplace without sexually harassing anyone.Īs Paradigm CEO Joelle Emerson first pointed out on Twitter, these questions are seriously flawed.

Sex discrimination lawsuits pile up in Silicon Valley-and there's no end in sight

Effie epstein