A GOOGLE employee’s 10-page memo criticising the firm’s efforts to increase workplace diversity has caused a stir in Silicon Valley.
The memo was posted to an internal company discussion board last week by a software engineer, and shared widely. It suggests that Google’s efforts to promote gender diversity ignore biological differences between men and women. Such differences mean women have a stronger interest in people than in things, the author argues, which means they generally prefer jobs that involve people rather than coding. He also says men have a higher drive for status, which is why they have more leadership roles.
While it has historically been claimed that male and female brains are different, there is little in the way of modern neuroscience to support this idea.
The public outcry in response to the document comes at an awkward time for Google, which is under investigation by the US Department of Labor for violating federal law by having gender disparities in salaries. On Monday, Google announced the employee had been fired.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Google sacking”
More on these topics: