Google engineer writes women are genetically unsuited for tech jobs

Update: Google has reportedly fired the employee who penned the controversial memo. In an internal email to staff, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he cut his family vacation short to return to work and tackle the issue and condemned the memo. 

Late last week, an unnamed engineer circulated a memo that reads how women are 'unsuited' for tech jobs, citing reasons like 'biological causes'.

This anonymous software engineer's 10-page views (you can read it here) on under-representation of women in tech jobs argues that we see less women not due to bias and discrimination at a workplace, but inherent psychological differences. The memo states 'biological causes' are why fewer women are in tech and leadership. 

The 3000-word memo had many gaping in shock as it read, "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."

This has sparked a debate over the treatment of women in male dominated Silicon Valley. In response to the memo that reportedly went 'viral' internally, Danielle Brown who is the new vice president of diversity, integrity and governance at Google sent a sharp response criticising it.

Here's the memo Danielle wrote in response (via Motherboard)

Googlers,

I’m Danielle, Google’s brand new VP of Diversity, Integrity & Governance. I started just a couple of weeks ago, and I had hoped to take another week or so to get the lay of the land before introducing myself to you all. But given the heated debate we’ve seen over the past few days, I feel compelled to say a few words.

Many of you have read an internal document shared by someone in our engineering organization, expressing views on the natural abilities and characteristics of different genders, as well as whether one can speak freely of these things at Google. And like many of you, I found that it advanced incorrect assumptions about gender. I’m not going to link to it here as it’s not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages.

Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of our values and the culture we continue to cultivate. We are unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company, and we’ll continue to stand for that and be committed to it for the long haul. As Ari Balogh said in his internal G+ post, “Building an open, inclusive environment is core to who we are, and the right thing to do. ‘Nuff said. “

Google has taken a strong stand on this issue, by releasing its demographic data and creating a company wide OKR on diversity and inclusion. Strong stands elicit strong reactions. Changing a culture is hard, and it’s often uncomfortable. But I firmly believe Google is doing the right thing, and that’s why I took this job.

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. But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.

I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I can tell you that I’ve never worked at a company that has so many platforms for employees to express themselves—TGIF, Memegen, internal G+, thousands of discussion groups. I know this conversation doesn’t end with my email today. I look forward to continuing to hear your thoughts as I settle in and meet with Googlers across the company.

Thanks,

Danielle

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• women tech jobs
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