Yahoo Finance Google hits back in defence after employee memo prompts gender diversity row
Senior Google leaders have denounced an anonymous internal memo criticising the tech company’s diversity policies.
Google’s engineering vice president and its head of diversity both hit out at claims the lack of women in top tech jobs was due to biological differences between men and women.
An unnamed engineer sparked a furore at the firm when he asserted in a 3,000-word document last week that “Google’s left bias has created a politically correct monoculture” which prevented honest discussion of the issue.
MORE: Co-op to target cashpoint theft by spraying criminals with traceable gel
“Distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership,” he wrote.
“We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” he said.
The author further added that women generally “prefer jobs in social or artistic areas” while “more men may like coding”.
MORE: Uber drivers gang up on passengers to manipulate pricing, study reveals
The document prompted a raft of employees to join the debate – and stoked the discussions over treatment of women in the male-dominated Silicon Valley that has boiled for months following sexual harassment scandals at taxi hailing service Uber and several venture capital firms.
It also saw Danielle Brown, Google’s newly-appointed vice president of diversity, integrity and governance, send her own memo to staff, saying the engineer’s essay “advanced incorrect assumptions about gender”.
She said the article, posted on an internal discussion board, and published in full by website Gizmodo, was “not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages”.
Brown added: “Part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions.
MORE: People in the UK will soon be able to get social media giants to delete their embarrassing posts
“But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.”
And, Aristotle Balogh, Google engineering vice president, also wrote an internal post criticising the employee’s memo, saying “stereotyping and harmful assumptions” could not be allowed to play any part in the company’s culture.
According to Google’s company website, 69% of employees are male, 31% female. One in five workers in tech positions are women, while one in four “leadership positions” are filled by women.
The diversity breakdown also shows, in the US, more than half of workers (56%) are white, 35% Asian, 4% Hispanic and just 2% Black.
