http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...versity-challenge/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Google on Wednesday released statistics on the makeup of its work force, providing numbers that offer a stark glance at how Silicon Valley remains a white man’s world.
Thirty percent of Google’s 46,170 employees worldwide are women, the company said, and 17 percent of its technical employees are women. Comparatively, 47 percent of the total work force in the United States is women and 20 percent of software developers are women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Of its United States employees, 61 percent are white, 2 percent are black and 3 percent are Hispanic. About one-third are Asian — well above the national average — and 4 percent are of two or more races. Of Google’s technical staff, 60 percent are white, 1 percent are black, 2 percent are Hispanic, 34 percent are Asian and 3 percent are of two or more races.
In the United States work force over all, 80 percent of employees are white, 12 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Google’s disclosures come amid an escalating debate over the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Although tech is a key driver of the economy and makes products that many Americans use ever yday, it does not come close to reflecting the demographics of the country — in terms of sex, age or race. The lopsided numbers persist among engineers, founders and boards of directors.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., the civil rights activist, has been pressuring tech companies to release data on the makeup of their workforces. When he appeared at Google’s shareholders meeting this month, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, surprised people when he said the company would release the data. Other tech companies at which Mr. Jackson has appeared, including Hewlett-Packard and Facebook, have not released diversity statistics about their companies.
“Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity, and it’s hard to address these kinds of challenges if you’re not prepared to discuss them openly, and with the facts,” Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president for people operations, wrote in a blog post.
Though Google did not specifically say how it planned to change the numbers, it said that it hoped releasing them would start a dialogue. The company had made changes in the past to recruit and retain women, like lengthening maternity leaves and including women on the teams that interviewed prospective employees, but the numbers reveal it has a long way to go.
Tech companies have often blamed the lack of diverse workforces on the pipeline — they can only hire the people who apply for jobs, and those tend to be white and Asian men, they say.
That is partly true. For instance, only 18.5 percent of high school students who took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science last year were girls. In eight states, no Hispanic students took the test and in 12 states, no black students took it. The problems start as early as childhood, when girls are discouraged by parents and teachers from pursuing technical pursuits.
Yet some of the blame also falls on tech companies. There can be a sexist culture that turns away women, as evidenced by the high attrition rate among technical women as compared to men. And women who try to start tech companies face exclusion by a venture capital network dominated by a chummy fraternity of men.
This is all despite the fact that the data — which in Silicon Valley usually reigns supreme — shows that diversity on groups benefits research, development, innovation and profit.
Indians/Asians realize their strength is centered around Science and Medicine, not scoring touchdowns and dunking basketballs.
Like Google, any company would like to hire the best of the best. It has to start at an early age, and get involved in disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs.
