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Reports Filed In Microsoft Lawsuit Find 'Significant' Gender Gap At Firm

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As part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging gender imbalances at Microsoft, attorneys have submitted two studies suggesting the company's promotion-ladder and pay scale need work.

As Slate reported Saturday, two reports analyzing the gender dynamics and equity at Microsoft have been filed in U.S. District Court in Washington State in the case of Moussouris v. Microsoft, both offering criticism of the tech giant.

The first, developed by Princeton economics professor Henry Farber, looked at data representing compensation, tenure, age, performance, geographic location, and other factors for more than 16,000 employees between 2010 and 2016. According to Farber's analysis, women in low- to mid-level technical roles at Microsoft “receive lower compensation on average, than otherwise-similar men, and this difference in pay is statically significant.”

See also: Brookings Report Finds Women Have Sharper Tech Skills Than Men

Farber's report also found that women in mid-level Microsoft jobs have a "statistically significant lower probability of getting promoted," Slate noted.

This finding is in keeping with the results of the second report, prepared by Michigan State University psychology professor Ann Marie Ryan, which suggests Microsoft “does not provide clear, job-related guidance as to how to distinguish levels within a career stage for compensation decisions,” and thereby fails to account for the proven biases that women face during subjective assessments of their work.

By email, a spokesperson for Microsoft commented in a statement, “We’ve reviewed the plaintiffs’ claims and strongly disagree with the contentions in the case because data and other information is mischaracterized. We are defending the case in court.”

The company also said it has a “strong commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce where all employees have the chance to succeed," that it is "constantly learning and working to improve" its training and representation, and that it will be providing its own data on the matter in court.

See also: Women's Advocates Sue Trump Admin For Arbitrarily Ditching Equal Pay Data

The case, which plaintiffs recently moved to make a class-action suit covering up to 8,360 of their colleagues, was originally filed in 2015 by security researcher Katie Moussouris, and grew to include two other women workers of Microsoft. As Slate reported, Moussouris is well known in her field, and has been credited with first launching Microsoft's bug bounty program in 2013.

Among other things, the lawsuit argues that women's lower compensation and rates of promotion compared to men result from "the unchecked gender bias that pervades Microsoft’s corporate culture."

Farber's analysis found that the gender pay gap at Microsoft "persists after you control for standard human capital factors, location, performance reviews, and the type of work each employee performs," including workers' job titles (defined at Microsoft according to employees' "Career Stages," which "systematically" see women at lower levels, Farber said).

Within the company's lowest four career levels, women account for only 20% of workers, according to Farber, and just 6.7% at level 67, the highest level at which pay disparity was detected. 

"In addition," Buzzfeed reported, "it's possible that there are fewer pay disparities at the top because there are simply fewer women there."

See also: Thousands Braved The Cold Outside Verizon Stores Yesterday -- Here's Why [PHOTOS]

[h/t Slate

[Updated 12/11/17 at 11:30 am to include a statement from Microsoft, and to remove a claim via Buzzfeed that Microsoft's top three employee levels are 100% male; a spokesperson for the company said this is incorrect]

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