That page says this:
Absolutely; the “ease” here refers to fights over division of finances. But that does not mean that the actual work related to asset division is easy when the assets are so massive and very diverse, including art, farmland, various real estate, and investments in publicly held and private companies, to name a few.
This popped up on my newsfeed. An article from 2019 about Melinda French Gates:
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Just read that Bill G invited several women to dinner and disparaged his wife in meetings. Now did he keep inviting them after they said no? Did he threaten their jobs if they said no? Did Melinda G ever invite a male colleague to dinner? Does Melinda G saying in her book that Bill was an absent father qualify as a disparaging comment? Come on.
If more information comes to light, I will reconsider my opinion. I’m curious to hear if others think it’s harassment or ever appropriate for a male to invite a female colleague to dinner.
Article from The NY Times today
Imo some creepy behavior.
Thanks for posting this. Creepy - yes, but so far, it looks like there is nothing that was not consensual (all advances mentioned in the article were shot down on the spot - you go ladies!), and the Epstein “ties” so far have not netted anything but speculation. Still, Melinda knew very well that if she continued to approve such behavior while pitching empowerment of women, she would have been a hypocrite. I applaud Melinda for making the hard choice. I bet it was not easy; she knew the public would give her a hard time and try to air any dirty laundry that could be found. She already has been called a gold digger, an intellectual nothing, etc. She is a very strong woman, and I wish her the best.
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Now the WSJ reports Bill G was asked to step down from the board after an affair was reported and investigated. SMH
It is inappropriate if the inviter has power over the invitee. (Note that this can be a female inviting a male colleague, yeah that happens too.) In the case of Gates I don’t think he behaved inappropriately towards the employee, but towards Melinda and their marriage? Sure.
Don’t understand this reasoning. It is always wrong to ask out or pursue a relationship with someone you have the power to fire - as Bill apparently did with this one employee and, yes, as he did with Melinda Gates while she worked at Microsoft. On the other hand, Melinda insisted for years that her marriage with Bill Gates was one of equal partners. Despite the issues that led to the dissolution of that partnership - including Bill’s failure to live up to his share of it - most will readily agree that Melinda’s description and expectation were spot on for a marriage. But how can asking out or dating or having an affair with a company subordinate (even one not under your direct management) be anything other than unequal in terms of power? Pretty much ANYONE at Microsoft should have been “hands off” for Bill Gates. That he never understood this this means he’s either completely clueless or completely arrogant.
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They started dating in the late 1980s and got married in 1994. Companies were much different places then. Go back and watch the film Working Girl from 1988. You can’t simply impose today’s standards retrospectively.
In 1990 20% of people met their spouse at work but since then it’s fallen dramatically (How Americans Meet Their Spouses - WSJ)
If a man asks a woman to dinner for the same reason he would ask a woman to dinner, and if nothing inappropriate is intended, why on earth is it not okay to ask the woman to dinner? I am not talking about asking her out. I am talking about going for dinner … maybe because they need a break while working late, or maybe they are on the road and would otherwise eat alone … How are women ever going to be considered equal if they can’t fully participate in life?
Many years ago, when I was just beginning my career, I worked with some men who often ate lunch together at a nearby restaurant. They were told by the Big Boss that they couldn’t ask me to go with them, because it would look bad. I was livid! I worked in a manufacturing plant, and there were many things going on that were inappropriate … guess they picked the easiest thing to handle? It was dumb.
My D eats with males who are higher up in the organization than she when she travels. She went to a concert with one once. No inappropriate moves were made at any time.
Asking someone to eat with you is different than asking someone out. If at the dinner, inappropriate actions take place, the dinner is no longer a dinner … it has changed to an inappropriate situation. But just because some people are pigs doesn’t mean everyone is a pig.
Off my soapbox now.
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I hope that we will now be spared Bill’s pious pronouncements. He always made my skin crawl anyway. Anyone who was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein should take their penance by disappearing from public view, like Prince Andrew.
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I agree with the first part, but I don’t think the second part is true. If Bill Gates was chairman at the time then he didn’t have the power to fire employees.
LOL that doesn’t make your case; Tess McGill fought off her boss’s advances and Harrison Ford’s character worked at another firm. “Today’s standards?” The Gates affair was from 2000, and #MeToo involves decades of allegations.
Of course - and there is nothing wrong with meeting your spouse through your work or even at work. That doesn’t mean your boss gets to ask you out on a date. The position of power wasn’t any different in 1990 from what it is today.
A dinner with a colleague in the context of work isn’t the same thing as a date, and most (if not all) women and men in business can tell the difference. I retired from Corporate America years ago, but this wasn’t an issue then. Professional conduct was simply the default at all times.
Nonsense. Chairmen run the board, which oversees the CEO, who is ultimately responsible for profitability and proper hiring (via his/her chosen or proposed executives). Furthermore, Gates was the former CEO, the founder, and just has enormous influence in that company (which should be no surprise). Effectively, he remained at the top of the power structure any way you look at it.
Sorry, that’s nonsense. It would be impractical for a chairman to involve the CEO and a long management chain to get a low level employee fired for nefarious reasons. Now if the employee is a VP or above then that’s different.
“Practical” has nothing to do with it. By they way, neither would personality. “Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Software Architect” is pretty much at the top of the heap, even if he’s not CEO. We are starting to read a little more about Gates’s dating habits at Microsoft and his foundation. It’s not looking good.
I have a different opinion. His association with Epstein bothers me. His involvement with MS employees does not. Even the women involved said they didn’t see Gates’ behavior as predatory because he didn’t offer promotions and he always gave them an easy out. (See NYTimes article.)