What Anita Hill Knows That Ellen Pao Doesn't

Time may not heal all wounds, but it certainly brings a different perspective.

On Monday, two public faces of sexual harassment and assault came forward to speak on the state of gender bias in the American workplace. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ellen Pao spoke out for the first time since losing her legal battle against VC goliath Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. That same day Anita Hill came forward with her thoughts on Pao's trial. In 1991, Hill alleged in a very public testimony that she’d been sexually harassed by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

Reading these stories back-to-back, I was struck by the dissimilar tone that these two women took in their perspective of how public cases like theirs can change industries and make the road potentially easier for the women that come after them.

Although Pao acknowledged that her trial "resonated with a lot of people" and "become a much bigger thing" through the years, the interim-CEO of Reddit appeared pessimistic about the future of gender bias in the venture capital industry. Asked if the environment has changed in the past decade, she said:

I struggle with that a little bit. I think in the last five or 10 years there’s been more people coming into tech to make money fast than before. And that mentality has changed how a set of people behave. There’s still a corps of people who are really interested in technology and really interested in making people’s lives better, but there’s also this other pressure of making money fast, and that’s changed the culture of Silicon Valley.

Pao had the opportunity with that question to share her perspective on what her trial will do to advance gender relations in Silicon Valley — but she didn't. Instead, she shared other reasons why she is afraid that women will continue to be disadvantaged.

Hill, in sharp contrast, shared an optimistic tone on what Pao's trial will accomplish:

Hearing the ruminations on Ellen Pao’s failed gender discrimination suit against her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the famous words of Justice Louis Brandeis come to mind: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” In Pao’s case, the sunlight is beginning to do its work... The public conversation about the Pao lawsuit must become loud enough to reach industry leaders’ ears.

Hill's thoughts on Pao's trial come with an advantage that Pao herself couldn't possible have right now: A quarter century of history. In generation since her Senate testimony in the Thomas confirmation hearings it's apparent Hill has gained some perspective on the impact her trial had on workplace gender relations. Now a professor of social policy, law, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Brandeis University, Hill can see further down the road and imagine the waves that Pao's trial has created that haven't begun to emerge. As she wrote:

If the employers and employees take Pao’s suit as a call to improve their workplaces, the women of the MBA class of 2015 should face less workplace hostility than their 2014 counterparts.

What Pao can’t see yet is that the mere fact that there was an Anita Hill meant there were going to be fewer Anita Hills — and that future Ellen Pao’s would be taken seriously. Thomas had no trouble getting confirmed, but the backlash from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings — which included dramatic attacks on her memory and character by all-male Thomas supporters — would be unthinkable today.

It doesn't mean that Hill, a reluctant witness, single-handedly rid gender discrimination from America's public sector. But the passage of time has burnished her testimony. That’s partly true because since Hill her experience no longer seems improbable. Remember, nobody accused Pao of being ridiculously sensitive or misunderstanding innocent workplace remarks.

Pao went through a hearing that likely would have been impossible without Anita Hill. Maybe in another 24 years, nobody will need to be an Ellen Pao.

For more posts from LinkedIn's New Economy Editor Caroline Fairchild, click the yellow follow button above and follow Fairchild on Twitter here.