Alphabet shareholder calls Porat ‘lady CFO’
Sexist slight by male shareholder glossed over by execs on stage
At the annual SAN FRANCIS CO meeting for Google’s parent Alphabet, there was the customary talk of technology moonshots: driverless cars, cutting-edge life sciences research, 3-D printed buildings and meat made out of plants. The buzz on social media came from a topic that did not top Wednesday’s agenda: gender diversity.
Minutes after Alphabet shareholders rejected a proposal to disclose more information about gender pay equity at Google, a shareholder stepped forward to ask whether Alphabet’s stock price was under- or overvalued by Wall Street.
“My first question is to the lady CFO,” the shareholder said.
He was referring to Alphabet’s finance chief Ruth Porat, one of Wall Street’s most powerful and influential executives, whose appointment restored confidence in Alphabet investors. He then addressed legal chief David Drummond as “Mr. Drummond.”
It could have been a teachable moment, the kind Google is supposed to excel at. The Internet giant has positioned itself as a leader in unconscious bias training, instructing employees to call out colleagues for sexism or racism. Schmidt himself was called out by a Google employee a couple of years ago during a SXSW Interactive panel.
Yet the sexist slight went mostly unacknowledged, at least by the executives on stage — Porat, who calmly answered the question, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Drummond and Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who did ask “our CFO” to respond to the question — until another investor stepped forward.
Danielle Ginach, associate director and impact manager at Sonen Capital, said into the mic: “I am sorry to put another shareholder on the spot. But Ms. Porat is the CFO, not the lady CFO.”
Ginach says she was waiting in line to ask a question about Google’s participation in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is seeking to block clean-energy regulation by the Obama administration.
“I was in disbelief when he (the shareholder) said it,” said Ginach, whose San Francisco firm focuses on investments with social and environmental impact. “There was no way I was not going to acknowledge it. ... Imagine addressing the ‘ man CFO.’ What is the relationship between gender and CFO?”
Google declined to comment.