Silicon Valley Still Wrestling With Diversity Issues

An anonymous reader writes: As major tech companies come under increased scrutiny over the diversity of their workforces, many of them are focusing solely on the "pipeline" of workers educated in a computer-related field. They're pouring resources into getting kids to code, setting up internships, and even establishing mentoring programs for underrepresented groups. But experts say they're still failing to root out their own internal biases when making hiring decisions. "That bias shows up in recruiting, with companies drawing from the same top universities, where black and Hispanic graduates are still lagging behind other groups. ... The problem is particularly acute at start-ups, where black founders are just 1 percent of venture-invested firms, according to a 2011 survey by CB Insights." The tech companies are under mounting pressure to solve this problem, and the solutions they're pursuing won't show results quickly.

Comments

Silicon Valley Isn't Wrestling with it

[Anonymous Coward]

A bunch of SJWs are wrestling with it. Silicon Valley is doing just fine.

Is this Jezebel or Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Serious question...

Re:Is this Jezebel or Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you have against discussing a problem

The lack of any evidence that said problem actually exists. Start with a survey of what jobs women and men actually prefer doing. That's the first step in empirically proving that sexism exists, but feminists refuse to do such research because it will debunk their anecdotal claims. Norway knows what's up. The most equal countries in the world have greater gender differences, esp. in job selection. What you're calling a "problem" is the fact that women have more freedom to express their choice in job preference. I suppose your "solution" would be less choice, maybe forcing women and men into jobs they do not want? Something akin to Communism? (indeed, here we reveal the true nature of the social justice warrior beast) Behavioural differences between men and women are cross-cultural (meaning: not socialized).

In short: There is no evidence a problem exists. Should we be hemming and hawing over the alleged existence of a teapot orbiting between here and Mars? Never mind that there is no evidence for its existence, let's waste time discussing the question of who could have put it there? Just because SJW whines about something that allegedly affects women doesn't mean we should engage our gynocentric bias and suddenly declare that correlation is suddenly causation. Hint: The SJW does not want to admit that any "issues facing women" have been addressed, as this means their job is over. For instance, see how SJW "rape culture" hysteria has removed an alarming amount of due process. According to SJWs none of the drastic changes we have made has done anything to cure the problem they claim still exists -- they seek MORE erosion of rights to address their baseless accusations.

In other words: Once you pay the Danegeld, you will never be rid of the Dane.

P.S. The wage gap hasn't existed in over half a decade.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Diversity is not an issue, the ONLY thing they should care is competence.

Re:Huh?

[Attila Dimedici]

You make a valid point. They also care about the fact that if they hire an incompetent Asian or White guy, they can fire him with no repercussions. However, if they hire an incompetent who is a member of one of the "disadvantaged" groups, firing them is potentially a legal nightmare. It is easier to not hire them in the first place unless they are clearly able to do the job.

So many begged questions in that summary..

[argStyopa]

What's even funnier it's that the dolts pitching this agenda have no idea how little actual impact they're having; I founded my company with my wife listed as primary, so it's a "woman-owned business". I know not one but TWO business (one of them sizable) in which the founders were a couple of white guys and a black friend - the white guys put up the money and actually run the business, the black guy lets them use his identity as principal to make it a "minority" business.

My guess is that a significant portion of the "progress" made toward this utopian diversity goal is bullshit, and many if not most of these businesses are really funded and/or run by white men.