To Be Heard: Facebook Whistleblower & Women’s Leadership Today
From Anita Hill to Enron, from #MeToo to Facebook: Women have risked it all to speak truth for public good. Today, are we finally heard?
In her Senate testimony on October 5, 2021, Facebook employee Frances Haugen declared Facebook to be “morally bankrupt” for its systemic amplification of divisiveness for financial gain—and the psychological and social repercussions of this.
“Many of the claims don’t make any sense,” said Mark Zuckerberg in response. His attempt to minimize Haugen’s comments are literally ancient.
The legend of Cassandra is perhaps the earliest sexual harassment case. According to the story, Apollo wanted to sleep with Cassandra. When she refused, he cursed her to see the future but have no one believe her prophecies. Women’s history: speaking truth, not being heard.
Voices that challenge power are a threat to those who abuse it, provoking attempts to diminish those voices. In the glow of Haugen’s groundbreaking testimony, we pay tribute to a history of women speaking truth to power— and amplify women’s voices today.
A spy back: In 1991, Anita Hill introduced sexual harassment into public discourse when she testified to the Senate against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The all-white male committee’s questioning arguably sought to diminish and humiliate—at one point asking: “Are you a scorned woman?” Yet Hill says, “Testifying has helped me understand that one individual's behavior and actions make a difference. That my actions are important to people other than myself.” Cut to 2018, Christine Blasey Ford testifying against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for his sexual attack: “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified.”
In 2002, Time magazine’s Person of the Year was awarded to three women under the banner “The Whistleblowers.” Time described them as “Women of ordinary demeanor but exceptional guts and sense.” Coleen Rowley, FBI agent turned 911 whistleblower, was motivated to bring peace to victims’ families—“If they aren’t able to get the full truth, people can’t rest” is what she said. She’s pictured alongside Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper of Enron and WorldCom respectively, who called out financial fraud.
Women whistleblowers throughout time have risked and lost jobs, privacy, security, even sanity in the name of public good. Far from a call for attention, they have acted against personal interest. A 2008 study found that women whistleblowers face stronger retaliation than their male counterparts. The study points out that rather than deterring women, this emboldens them: “The more retaliation they faced, the more likely women were to keep fighting the battle over what they felt was wrong.”
The #MeToo movement, first coined by Tarana Burke in 2006, was brought to global prominence in 2017 as women came together to support one another’s testimony of sexual abuse. Contrasting Hill speaking alone under the scrutiny of a crowd of white men with the many thousands of women echoing one another’s voices through #Me too, we see how women’s impact increases when our voices are amplified.
What connects today’s Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen to the lineage of women whistleblowers?
Care fuels courage: Haugen chose to come forward after witnessing a friend’s personal downfall into mental illness influenced by the algorithm's push toward divisive, habit-forming content.
Values drive integrity: Haugen asserts Facebook consistently and consciously chooses profit over public safety. Her values committed her to act.
What’s changing the future for women? Women supporting, echoing, standing by and for one another as we build a more caring, values driven, and truthful future.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “A woman is like a tea bag—you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” Together, we’re one strong cup.
Lucia Brizzi is director of programming at Next Level Leadership, an organization working within the Fortune 500 & academia to change the future for women—and create a better tomorrow.