A $16m test case for gender discrimination in Silicon Valley opened on Tuesday with the allegation that one of the world’s most successful venture capital firms failed to provide “a level playing field” for a former junior partner who went on to be a chief executive elsewhere.
Ellen Pao claims that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which backed companies including Amazon and Google, paid her less than male colleagues, denied her promotions, and retaliated against her because she complained of bias. The firm disputes that, saying that she failed to advance because she lacked experience and clashed with colleagues.
Ms Pao’s case comes amid a fierce debate in Silicon Valley about why female entrepreneurs and venture capitalists remain a tiny minority despite gains by women in other historically male-dominated fields like medicine and law.