Closing arguments for the high-profile discrimination case filed by venture capitalist Ellen Pao against prominent Silicon Valley blue chip investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have ended.
After a month-long period listening to testimonies from both sides, a six-man and six-woman jury has started their deliberations, the focal point of which is to answer whether the firm's discriminatory culture against women was the reason why she was passed over for promotion to senior partner and fired when she started to complain about it, or whether her termination was the result of her poor performance during her time at the firm.
Four weeks of arguments have painted a picture of an all-boys club that is not as accustomed to promoting women who aggressively go for higher positions as they are used to handing the reward to men who share the trait. Pao herself vocally expressed her interest in a senior partnership position from the beginning.
