Trust the system. Trust the system in which men get paid more than equally capable women in virtually every profession.

This is the idea that Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft conveyed to a group of women technologists at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on Oct. 9.

“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,” Nadella said. “It’s good karma. It will come back.”

Not surprisingly, the audience was not thrilled with this statement. Nor was Maria Klawe, a Microsoft director who was interviewing Nadella. Klawe immediately told Nadella that she disagreed with him on the raise issue. The audience welcomed Klawe’s statement with much more enthusiasm. Following cheers and applause from the crowd, Klawe offered some of her own advice to women: do your homework and role-play negotiating compensation.

If all women took Nadella’s advice, I would argue that they are being naïve. In the current workplace, which is increasingly political and competitive, women cannot trust that their merits will be rewarded without any self-promotion.

If women were rewarded solely based on their performance, then today’s workplace would be considered a meritocracy, which is far from the truth. Instead, stereotypical beliefs that are ingrained in our business leaders from an early age often overshadow unbiased evaluations. Hopefully one day we can achieve objective assessments for all workers, but today we are far from that.

According to the American Association of University Women, last year women were paid 78 percent of what equally qualified men received. This statistic clearly illustrates the unfair disadvantage that women are faced with, simply because they are female.

Shortly after the interview, Nadella apologized for his statements, saying that he had been “inarticulate.” However, his word choice is not the issue. The issue is that, when asked a question on the spot, Nadella expressed that he feels the current system is efficient and women are properly paid. Coming from the CEO of one of the world’s largest corporation, this is troubling, if not predictable.

There is no doubt the well-off (earning over $80 million per year) and well-educated (three degrees to his name) Nadella feels he is an enlightened being, someone who could never be prejudiced towards women. Therein lies the problem. As much as we would like to deny it, even the best of us are guilty of stereotyping. It is still prevalent. In order to see change, everyone must be cognizant of this problem and promote change.   

Like Klawe said, women must research and know what the appropriate salary is. With this in mind, women must sit down with someone trusted and practice asking him or her for a raise. This will allow working women to be able to confidently promote themselves.

Passively waiting for the system to reward everyone fairly has never worked. Rosa Parks was not passive when she refused to move to the back of the bus.  Susan B. Anthony did not wait for “karma” to give women the right to vote. Every major social change throughout history has resulted from action and increased social awareness, not from hoping those in charge will do the right thing.

Women must stop waiting in order to bridge the gender gap. They must disrupt the status quo. They must stand up for what they believe in. And they must stop letting outdated and unfair stereotypes suppress their full potential.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Emma Love at [email protected].