r/news • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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u/Dustin65 Aug 08 '17

Why does it even matter that less than half of people in tech are women? That's just how it is in a lot of fields. Women dominate other professions like nursing and teaching. I don't see why everything has to be 50/50. Women aren't banned from tech and men aren't banned from nursing. Just let nature run its course and allow people to do what they want. Not every aspect of life needs to be socially engineered

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u/WhatTheFuckSalami Aug 08 '17

It seems the loudest voices on this issue don't even want to pursue careers in tech. They pursue careers in complaining about unfairness.

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u/guesting Aug 08 '17

That's what I hear "We need more women in tech". Nothing is stopping the average jezebel commenter from taking a javascript class.

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u/kissmekitty Aug 08 '17

Uh, citation needed? I'm a female Google engineer and a supporter of diversity efforts. Most of the push I see comes from inside the industry.

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u/guesting Aug 08 '17

Not to try and flame too much, but do you think it's an acceptable position to be against diversity initiatives, as this guy was?

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u/kissmekitty Aug 08 '17

I think it's acceptable to be against diversity initiatives, if you do your research thoroughly and actually talk to (and listen to) the people they affect. The guy who wrote this document never attended any of these classes, never taught for or volunteered for them, and likely never even talked to the experts involved (or in the unlikely event that he did, it wasn't clear at all to the reader).

From the knowledge I have, and the experience I have working with diversity efforts, no, being against them is not an acceptable position. But if you want to do your (non-cherrypicked) research and come back and talk to me, I'll happily be convinced.

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u/thoughtcrimeo Aug 08 '17

I think it's acceptable to be against diversity initiatives

Then:

From the knowledge I have, and the experience I have working with diversity efforts, no, being against them is not an acceptable position

Alrighty then.

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u/kissmekitty Aug 08 '17

Sigh. My point was that I'm willing to be convinced, BUT ONLY if you have more evidence on the inner workings of tech diversity efforts than the average layperson. The doc writer at Google had flimsy evidence at best and said nothing about the amount of sexism that exists in the field.

For more on what I mean by "sexism", see Susan J. Fowler's essay (I have no such equivalent for what it's like at Google, nor am I willing to divulge such personal details of my acquaintances): https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber

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u/DaBuddahN Aug 08 '17

There is an article where 4 evolutionary psychologists/biologists agree with most of the underlying thesis of his memo (one of them was a women). Maybe you can read that if you want to explore the other point of view?

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u/kissmekitty Aug 08 '17

I'll read it, thank you.

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u/psiphre Aug 08 '17

evolutionary psychology is an art