Venture capital investor Elaine Stead spearheads initiative for combatting sexual harassment in start-ups

“Unfortunately like almost every woman in every industry I’ve been subjected to sexism, harassment and bullying … ranging from been sexually assaulted at events, assumed I’m the junior at the fund I started because of my gender, and subject to a campaign of public bullying,” she said.

“While it’s easier to be quiet, it doesn’t change anything, and so I’m still here banging the drum, not just for me but for everyone in this industry.”

Stead said recent highly publicised incidents of alleged inappropriate conduct, which have led to multiple start-up executives resigning, served as a catalyst for the document’s creation. Stead conducted more than 40 interviews with investors and industry leaders.

“It was quite indicative of what had been happening in the shadows and in the background for a really long time,” she said of the latest incidents. “Then what we observed was so many men said to us privately ‘how do we help? We want to be allies here but we don’t know how to go about it’.”

Stead is calling for diversity, equity and inclusion specialists and more VC investors to contribute to the resource.

Founder of climate and tech-focused PR agency Third Hemisphere Hannah Moreno has worked heavily on the document and said it will exist alongside other efforts to date including The Grapevine, a platform for victims to anonymously share stories.

”I’ve had so many experiences of sexual harassment and abuse that could have materially damaged Third Hemisphere, that I’ve actually lost count,” she said. “In every one of these cases, I agonised over how to simultaneously protect the ego of my aggressor while keeping myself safe, and also not losing critical accounts, contacts and money.

“A lot of these start-ups are young guys who are getting all this money but haven’t been taught how to act as a good human. The start-up ecosystem has become a bit of a breeding ground for inappropriate behaviour … It’s an informal culture.”

The workforce is made up of a spectrum of people when it comes to social justice issues, according to Moreno. Some are “social justice deniers”, she said, who either don’t believe change is necessary or are outraged by it because they see it as a loss for themselves.

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Others are “social justice curious”, and might not have thought about the issues but recognise the mood is changing. A third group, “social justice champions”, have a responsibility to convert those in the curious group, according to Moreno.

“We need to work on converting them through positive messaging and empathy, and practical things you can do,” she said. “We realise not everyone is ready to speak out, not everyone is ready to put their head above the parapet and get it chopped off. But this is a tangible way people in the industry can help.

“We wanted to create this open-source document that anyone can access, that says ‘here are some different options’, and you can sort of pick from them like a buffet.”

“Unfortunately like almost every woman in every industry I’ve been subjected to sexism, harassment and bullying … ranging from been sexually assaulted at events, assumed I’m the junior at the fund I started because of my gender, and subject to a campaign of public bullying,” she said.

“While it’s easier to be quiet, it doesn’t change anything, and so I’m still here banging the drum, not just for me but for everyone in this industry.”

Stead said recent highly publicised incidents of alleged inappropriate conduct, which have led to multiple start-up executives resigning, served as a catalyst for the document’s creation. Stead conducted more than 40 interviews with investors and industry leaders.

“It was quite indicative of what had been happening in the shadows and in the background for a really long time,” she said of the latest incidents. “Then what we observed was so many men said to us privately ‘how do we help? We want to be allies here but we don’t know how to go about it’.”

Stead is calling for diversity, equity and inclusion specialists and more VC investors to contribute to the resource.

Founder of climate and tech-focused PR agency Third Hemisphere Hannah Moreno has worked heavily on the document and said it will exist alongside other efforts to date including The Grapevine, a platform for victims to anonymously share stories.

”I’ve had so many experiences of sexual harassment and abuse that could have materially damaged Third Hemisphere, that I’ve actually lost count,” she said. “In every one of these cases, I agonised over how to simultaneously protect the ego of my aggressor while keeping myself safe, and also not losing critical accounts, contacts and money.

“A lot of these start-ups are young guys who are getting all this money but haven’t been taught how to act as a good human. The start-up ecosystem has become a bit of a breeding ground for inappropriate behaviour … It’s an informal culture.”

The workforce is made up of a spectrum of people when it comes to social justice issues, according to Moreno. Some are “social justice deniers”, she said, who either don’t believe change is necessary or are outraged by it because they see it as a loss for themselves.

Loading

Others are “social justice curious”, and might not have thought about the issues but recognise the mood is changing. A third group, “social justice champions”, have a responsibility to convert those in the curious group, according to Moreno.

“We need to work on converting them through positive messaging and empathy, and practical things you can do,” she said. “We realise not everyone is ready to speak out, not everyone is ready to put their head above the parapet and get it chopped off. But this is a tangible way people in the industry can help.

“We wanted to create this open-source document that anyone can access, that says ‘here are some different options’, and you can sort of pick from them like a buffet.”