2018 Inaugural Peter S. Hagerman ’61 Lecture in Ethics
Carly Fiorina
“Why Ethics and Respect Matter”
Carly Fiorina is a leader in technology, business, and charity. As CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, she was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company. Fortune named her “the most powerful woman in business” from 2003-2008; Time included her in its 2004 list of “the100 most influential people in the world today;” Forbes ranked her tenth on its 2004 list of “the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.” She has led and even created several important charities, and she has run for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Presidency.
She has also, like millions of women across the United States and the world, been a victim of sexual harassment, discrimination, and humiliation. And like millions of women involved in the #MeToo movement, she has spoken publicly about it. She has also talked about policies and practices for addressing and ending this appalling common activity.
In a November 19, 2017, essay on Medium.com entitled “It’s Time to Man Up,” Fiorina wrote,
One hundred years ago, American women were jailed, beaten, tortured and force-fed; all because they believed they deserved the right to vote. One hundred years later, we can factually demonstrate that American women are the most educated, liberated, empowered and powerful women in all of human history.
And yet . . . one hundred years later we wake up daily to new revelations of sexual harassment and abuse visited on women and girls by powerful, successful, admired men in all walks of American life: politicians, executives, coaches, athletes, artists, moguls and men of the cloth. In every case, women bravely stepped forward. In virtually every case as well, their stories have been corroborated and verified.
I was asked recently in an interview what I thought about the shocking revelations. Let’s get real. No one is shocked. Women are not and men are not.
Women are not shocked because we all have been living with this for a very long time. I came up in the men’s worlds of technology and communications. But regardless of industry, virtually every woman I know — myself included — has been perennially, and at best, merely harassed and propositioned, diminished and ignored; not as frequently, but too often and at worst, too many I have known have been sexually abused. Virtually all of us have been groped by someone we thought we could trust.
I started out as a secretary almost forty years ago. I have travelled the corporate ladder from the very bottom to the very top, have run for the highest office in the land and sat for innumerable interviews on radio, TV and in print. I know this stuff happens because it has happened — still happens — to me.
As women we each have chosen to deal with these humiliations differently. Some of us have confronted and challenged. Others did not feel they were able to do so. Many are now coming forward with their sometimes horrific stories. Some are still silent. But none of us are shocked by what we are learning now…”
Women have been fighting for our right to contribute to our full potential for at least the last one hundred years. We have been fighting to be treated with the respect our compassion, our capability and our brainpower deserve for one hundred years.
One hundred years later though, I think it is men’s turn. It is men’s turn to stand up and say: we actually need women to be full participants in every walk of life, every industry and every community because we all need their smarts, their heart and their potential. It is men’s turn to stand up and speak out about unspeakable behavior — and not wait, hoping that it never comes out, until some brave woman finally cannot stay silent anymore. It is men’s turn to tell their fellow men that respect from others requires respect for others.
This is now a time for men to choose. Are you going to laugh and look the other way? Are you going to josh that boys will be boys? With a wink, a nod, and a choice word here and there are you going to make it clear that while you love women, you actually don’t think they are capable of whatever you care about most? Are you going to keep quiet when you should speak up?
Don’t worry. We women will keep fighting, contributing, speaking up and speaking out. The question is will you boys finally man up?”
(https://medium.com/@CarlyFiorina/its-time-to-man-up-402f0d051916)
In a follow-up interview on Fox News Sunday, Fiorina noted the problem with the way the U.S. Congress handles allegations of sexual misconduct:
If someone wants to come forward and allege harassment or abuse in congress, they must go through a mandatory 30 days of counseling, mandatory mediation led by a lawyer whose express purpose is to protect the institution, and then maybe if they are lucky they get a secret settlement paid for by taxpayers from the Treasury.
That whole process is designed to protect politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, to protect the institution and to make it next to impossible for a woman, or in some cases a young boy page, to come forward.”
She argued that Congress needed “to change its own process and procedures.” More importantly, she said,
“I think the question going forward is, when are we going to stop tolerating this behavior and respecting the men who do it? Because all of these men have been respected, despite the fact that people knew…. The only way it is going to be different in my opinion is if men change their opinion about these kinds of men. Women have known this is going on and deal with it. Men have known this is going on, and unfortunately too often look the other way. Not all men, but too many men.
And I think the problem is that men still can respect men despite this behavior. When men decide, you know what, I can't respect this behavior anymore. And power in and of itself is not what earns respect. What earns respect his behavior and leadership and decency and respect for others…I think men need to decide, I’m not going to respect a man who disrespects women. I’m going to withhold my respect from him, unless he respects others...”
(http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2017/11/26/carly-fiorina-on-sexual-harassment-claims-rocking-washington.html)
As part of an ABC News “This Week” panel of women leaders responding to the stories of sexual misconduct and harassment sweeping across the media in November, Fiorina said
…Most men are good and decent and respectful men, but enough men are not. And so we just have to decide, women and men, that this truly is not to be enabled, it's not to be excused. And in particular, that a man does not deserve respect from other men if he is disrespectful to women.”
(http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/wave-sexual-harassment-allegations-hits-capitol-hill-51255260)
Ethics and respect matter for many reasons, not the least of which is that, according to Fiorina, is their central connections with sexual harassment. Her Peter S. Hagerman ’61 lecture will address these connections.