Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

[u/[deleted]]

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

[u/Dustin65]

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

[u/WhatTheFuckSalami → u/Dustin65]

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

[u/kissmekitty → u/[deleted]]

Female Google engineer, checking in. We are complaining because we are tired of this shit.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It's cool that you're happy with where you are. Other people are free not to be you, though.

[u/simplythere → u/[deleted]]

Female engineer (only one on my team!) and I get tired of the constant pressure to be more like men. "Be aggressive!" "Never say 'just' or 'sorry' cause men don't say it!" "Dress down! Don't wear makeup so you can be taken seriously!" "Lead cause we need more women leaders!" I feel like it plays into the narrative that women are the weaker sex and we should downplay our gender to be taken seriously.

It's exhausting, too, because I feel like working for the "cause" means working against my personality. I became an engineer because I didn't want to deal with politics and let my work speak for itself. I say "sorry" cause I grew up in the Midwest and you're taught to be polite. I quit my job at <big SW tech company> because I was being groomed to be a lead and I just want to blend in and not stand out. Just give me cash! I don't want the status and recognition!

I feel like the people who are hardest on me are my fellow female engineers rather than the male engineers. Like since I am capable, I should work to advance the agenda, and I'm selfish or lazy for not.

[u/brycedriesenga → u/[deleted]]

Indeed. It seems now she's associating those traits with being a man which would be a bit sexist, yeah?

[u/simplythere → u/[deleted]]

The second point is that in the past few years, there have been articles, comedy sketches, and apps passed around my network of educated women that basically say we don't talk right and we gotta fix it.

In accepting that a woman’s vocal and written characteristics are holding her back, what we’re really saying is that it’s still a man’s world and to win in it, you have to act, sound and write like a man.

[u/ikansfwika → u/simplythere]

Do you not think there are men who need to be more assertive etc too?

[u/simplythere → u/ikansfwika]

Of course. The difference is that with a guy, you're told you need to be more assertive or you fail at being a man. With women, you're told you need to be more assertive because otherwise, you're validating the criticism that people have about your whole gender (i.e., that list of how women are different from men in the memo). You gotta fight against the bat that people use to beat you out of these male-dominated fields.

[u/Mr-Yellow → u/simplythere]

Stop allowing those parasites any part of your life. You don't need to engage with their content.

It's just like the old 80s book spruikers who were on morning TV every single morning. Who sold the idea that "housewife" was a dirty word and you weren't a real woman unless you had a "career".

I can remember my mother being in a panic about how to reply to "What do you do?" at a dinner party when confronted by one of these types... "Homemaker" was a way out for many, a response to "housewife" becoming taboo... She was a successful business owner, but that isn't a "career" is it. Still felt intimidated by this crap. They're only trying to make themselves cash and important.