Why Reddit just lost another female exec
Bethanye Blount, Reddit鈥檚 lead engineer, has resigned, saying she has lost confidence in the direction of the company. Did she leave because of discrimination?
Ellen Pao arriving at the San Francisco Superior Court in March. A Reddit chief engineer who resigned just days after her exit told the press Monday that Ms. Pao had been placed on a "glass cliff."
Robert Galbraith/Reuters/File
Just days after interim chief executive Ellen Pao left Reddit, the popular community website has lost another female senior executive, whose high-profile departure continues to feed a contentious debate on the prevalence of gender discrimination in Silicon Valley.
Chief engineer Bethanye Blount has after only two months at the company, reported Recode.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say my decision to leave was directly聽related to my gender,鈥� said Ms. Blount.
But her remarks on the chief executive鈥檚 exit signal both a belief that Ms. Pao had been a scapegoat for the website鈥檚 performance and that the company鈥檚 overreaching standards was driving people out 鈥� herself included.
Speaking out on the two women from Reddit whose departures have stirred controversy 鈥� Pao and popular moderator Victoria Taylor 鈥� Blount said, 鈥淰ictoria wasn鈥檛 on a glass cliff,鈥� a term that refers to women being set up for failure by being put in precarious leadership positions.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 hard for me to see it any other way than Ellen was,鈥� she added, echoing the who have cried discrimination.聽聽
Blount herself left because she had lost confidence in Reddit鈥檚 new direction, which encumbered its staff with unworkable demands, she told Recode.
The engineer, who鈥檇 previously been working at Facebook before joining the link sharing site, said she didn鈥檛 think she 鈥渃ould deliver on鈥� those demands. Pao made similar comments explaining her resignation over the weekend, saying, "The board asked me to demonstrate higher user growth in the next six months than I believe I can deliver while maintaining Reddit鈥檚 core principles."
Some of Reddit鈥檚 decisions in recent months had bred widespread animosity, most notably its banning of several groups said to be harassing other users聽and the firing of Ms. Taylor, whose dismissal led to a protest of users.
鈥淥f course, the unprecedented protests aren't聽just聽a reaction to Taylor's dismissal,鈥� Business Insider鈥檚 Rob Price. 鈥淭hey are the culmination of years of simmering resentment between community and staff, as well as more recent concerns over the direction of Reddit.鈥�
The team had been scrambling to retain business by making increasingly unrealistic assurances, Blount suggested .
鈥淚 feel like there are going be some big bumps聽on the road聽ahead for Reddit,鈥� said Blount. 鈥淎long the way, there are some very aggressive implied promises being made to the community 鈥� in comments to mods, quotes from board members 鈥� and they鈥檙e going [to] have some pretty big challenges in meeting those implied promises.鈥�
One of its 鈥減romises鈥� was improving new tools for the site's army of volunteer moderators, according to last week that acknowledged a lack of trust among users.
鈥淚 know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us,鈥� said Ms. Pao in her statement. She asked for patience in rebuilding a connection between Reddit鈥檚 team and user community, and pledged that staffers would be more responsive.
In response to Blount鈥檚 resignation, CEO Steve Huffman has denied allegations of gender discrimination. 鈥淭he company is growing, and we have the聽opportunity to improve in many areas 鈥� including the number of women in leadership positions,鈥� he said .
Software engineer George Pang has been assigned the role of interim chief engineer while the company searches for a permanent replacement, he added.