Google executive Eric Schmidt, man, makes total ass of himself at SXSW

Between high-stakes discrimination suits and the dubious behavior of so-called allies, there’s a tempest of awful gender relations right now in Silicon Valley. But the loudest storms that make headlines are only a small part of tech’s sexism problem. It’s not just bad weather, it’s bad climate — lots of small patterns that add up to a persistent mess. And as Eric Schmidt demonstrated today at SXSW, even top executives are capable of fueling the storm.

In a panel today, The Wall Street Journal reports, Schmidt had lots of thoughts about gender diversity in the technology industry — and often interrupted co-panelist Megan Smith, the US’s chief technologist and Schmidt’s former colleague, to share them with the audience. At one point, WSJ reports, Schmidt “opined on which of two questions Smith should respond to,” and interrupted Smith as she was speaking to talk about the Raspberry Pi.

The audience wasn’t having it. One attendee asked the panel “how personality biases in men and women affect workplace dynamics,” calling out Schmidt’s tendency to talk over Smith. As WSJ reports, the crowd went wild with applause for the observation.

That attendee, by the way, works for Google. Her name is Judith Williams, and she’s the global diversity and talent programs manager at the company, who leads “unconscious bias” workshops that teach employees how to recognize and call out prejudice.