The politically correct answer is: yes. And Google acts accordingly. It treats men and women differently during hiring and promotion, holds official women-only events, and gives mandatory sensitivity training on how to combat alleged sexist bias.
Of course, all of this makes sense if sexism is indeed the sole cause of the imbalance.
But what if men and women are not exactly the same?
Then, sexism is just one of many possible causes of the imbalance, and exclusionary programs and differential treatment can be a counterproductive form of sexism. These practices actually increase tensions and make some feel like Google cares more about their gender than their programming ability.
As an engineer, when I’m faced with a problem, I want to solve it. So, I decided to research the premise: that men and women are exactly the same.
I wrote my findings in a 10-page document titled, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” You can read it online.
What did I discover? That not all of the male-female disparity in tech may be the result of sexism.That at least some of it may be attributed to men and women having different goals for their careers and their lives.
To cite just two examples:
In the study, ”Women, Careers, and Work-Life Preferences,” published in the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, the study’s authors conclude that women across populations tend to look for more work-life balance, while men tend to have a higher drive for status.
And according to a study by Cal State Fullerton psychologist Richard Lippa, men, on average, tend to be more interested in things, while women tend to be more interested in people.
These findings have been replicated many times. They’ve actually been cited by other researchers as a cause for the gender gap in tech.
In other words, I didn’t make this stuff up.
In fact, after my document came under attack, evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller said its “empirical claims are scientifically accurate.”
But Google disagreed. Like…really disagreed.
