Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says women who don’t ask for pay rises have ‘good karma’

THE tech chief has come under fire on social media for suggesting that women who do not ask for equal pay to men have a “superpower”. What a tool.

Microsoft CEO’s shocking remarks

THE new Microsoft CEO has come under fire for suggesting that women who don’t ask for pay rises have “good karma” and that not asking for equal pay to men was a “superpower”.

Satya Nadella was forced to backtrack after the comments, made at a conference for women in computing, provoked anger on social media.

“It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” Mr Nadella told the audience at the Anita Borg Institute in Arizona, Mashable reported.

Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias #GHC14

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 9, 2014

'The system.' 'Karma.' Very clumsy wording by @satyanadella

— Adi Kingsley-Hughes (@the_pc_doc) October 9, 2014

No, Satya Nadella! I will not quietly sit in the background doing all the hard work I can muster and HOPE to get a promo or raise

— Λngiε (@LuxProsa) October 9, 2014

He added that “women who don’t ask for raises” have a “superpower ... because that’s good karma, that’ll come back ... that’s the kind of person that I want to trust.”

Twitter users responded with disbelieving comments including, “So women should trust the system that created the structural inequity?” and “Worst advice ever”.

Some asked how many CEOs had got to the top without asking for pay rises.

Maria Klawe, who was chairing the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, took the stage to say she disagreed with Mr Nadella.

Ms Klawe told the story about being made Dean of Engineering at Princeton and discovering that she was making $US50,000 a year less than she should have been.

@satyanadella As a shareholder, I hope you'll do the right thing and take steps to close the gaps at MS first. Deeds speak louder than words

— B. Wytched (@BLynchBooks) October 9, 2014

How big a woman's raise will be if she just shuts up and doesn't ask, according to @satyanadella pic.twitter.com/1pIiSRVq1N

— Douglas Crets (@DouglasCrets) October 9, 2014

“Do your homework,” said Ms Klawe, now president of Harvey Mudd College and member of Microsoft’s board of directors. “Don’t be stupid like I was.”

The gender pay gap for recent graduates is estimated to stand at roughly 20 per cent.

Mr Nadella has now taken to Twitter to explain himself, claiming he had been “inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of bias.”

Many of his followers said they would be awaiting his next move towards ensuring equal pay for both genders at Microsoft.