Response to: Exposing Hidden Biases at Google to Improve Diversity

Bias has existed in countless forms throughout history, ever since the beginning of mankind. Sexism, racism--these are only a few examples of the many different brands of hatred falling under discrimination. Recently, however, more and more awareness has been raised about these social injustices as a response to the changing times.

Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times recently published an article on the underlying discrimination in the tech company Google. As expected, he uncovered a network of latent racism and sexism within the company's hiring and promoting practices. As stated in the article, "Men make up 83 percent of Google’s engineering employees and 79 percent of its managers." Despite the fact that men and women make up equal portions of the population, this statistic is not demonstrated in Google, a multinational corporation's, worker demographics. Furthermore, whites comprise approximately 61% of all workers, while Asians composed 30%, bi- or multiracials 4%, Hispanics 3%, Blacks 2%, and other minorities under 1%.

Quoted from the article, Google is "...unhappy about the firm's poor gender diversity." This, along with their implementation of workshops, will make a great impact in the tech industry. As one of the most well-known companies in the world, this might create a snowball effect, as other corporations are pressured to do the same in order to keep up with Google. With the publication of this article, would for example, Apple, Google's business rival, also be pressured to utilize such measures in order to keep up with Google?

Decades of scientific research has proven time and time again that diverse work environments tend to fare better than homogeneous ones. This leaves no room whatsoever for any excuses about diversity "not being necessary" in a workplace environment.

Computer programming has, for as long as our generation has known it, at least, been seen as a "manly" profession, a job suited for men rather than for women. It is, to this day, a field dominated by men. However, at its beginnings, computer programming actually used to be considered "women's work." Brenda D. Frink from Gender New writes, "As computer scientist Dr. Grace Hopper told a reporter, programming was 'just like planning a dinner. You have to plan ahead and schedule everything so that it’s ready when you need it…. Women are ‘naturals’ at computer programming.'” Of course, the first computer programmer was a woman as well--Ada Lovelace. Without her, Google might never have been made possible. How many in the tech industry actually know that? Of course, that fact has long been swept under the rug to elevate male programmers. This is merely one example of how groups outside of "white male" have been brushed off.

Thankfully, Google seems to be willing to improve its efforts on hiring a diverse set of employees, whether that is out of social pressure or honest intent. Manjoo states, "Dr. Welle points to research showing that we aren’t slaves to our hidden biases. The more we make ourselves aware of the role our unconscious plays in our decision-making, and the more we try to force others to confront their biases, the greater the chance we have of overcoming our hidden preferences." This is a big step forward, as one can only improve if they identify the problem.

Quoted from the New York Times, "Mr. Bock [of Google] saw all of these actions as evidence that the training was working. 'Suddenly you go from being completely oblivious to going, ‘Oh my god, it’s everywhere,’ ' he said." With a different viewpoint of how rampant sexism and racism is, hopefully, the measures Google implemented to raise awareness will have a long-term effect at Google, and subsequently, the tech industry.