Update 8/5/17 7:25pm ET : Google ’s Modern Vice President of Diversity , Integrity & Governance Danielle Brown has issue her own memoranda to Google employees in response to the now - viral memo , “ Google ’s Ideological Echo Chamber . ” Brown ’s statement , obtained by Motherboard , can be found in full at the final stage of this article .
A software engineer ’s 10 - pageboy screed against Google ’s diverseness first step is going viral inside the caller , being shared on an internal meme net and Google+ . The papers ’s existence was first reported byMotherboard , and Gizmodo has obtained it in full .
In the memoranda , which is the personal public opinion of a male Google employee and is entitle “ Google ’s Ideological Echo Chamber , ” the generator argue that women are underrepresented in tech not because they face bias and discrimination in the workplace , but because of constitutional psychological differences between men and women . “ We need to stop assume that grammatical gender gap imply sexism , ” he writes , going on to argue that Google ’s educational programs for immature women may be misadvise .
The Emily Post come as Google battles awage secernment investigationby the US Department of Labor , which has found that Google routinely pays woman less than men in comparable part .
Gizmodo has make out to Google for comment on the memoranda and how the caller is address employee concerns regarding its capacity . We will update this clause if we hear back .
The text edition of the post is procreate in full below , with some minor format change . Two charts and several hyperlink are also overleap .
Reply to public response and misrepresentation
I value variety and inclusion , am not denying that sexism subsist , and do n’t endorse using stereotype . When addressing the gap in internal representation in the universe , we need to reckon at population level differences in dispersion . If we ca n’t have an true discussion about this , then we can never truly puzzle out the problem . Psychological safety is built on common respect and acceptation , but alas our polish of shaming and falsification is disrespectful and unaccepting of anyone outside its echo sleeping room . Despite what the public response seems to have been , I ’ve gotten many personal message from fellow Googlers express their gratitude for add up these very important issues which they agree with but would never have the courageousness to say or defend because of our shaming refinement and the theory of being fired . This needs to alter .
TL:DR
Google ’s political preconception has equated the freedom from offense with psychological safety equipment , but disgrace into silence is the antithesis of psychological safety .
This silencing has created an ideological echo chamber where some ideas are too sacred to be honestly discuss .
The lack of discussion Stephen Foster the most utmost and overbearing elements of this political theory .
Extreme : all disparity in representation are due to oppression
Differences in distributions of traits between world and womanhood may in part explain why we do n’t have 50 % theatrical performance of women in technical school and leadership . Discrimination to accomplish adequate representation is unfair , dissentious , and bad for commercial enterprise .
Background [1]
People loosely have safe intent , but we all have biases which are invisible to us . Thankfully , open and good treatment with those who disagree can highlight our blind muscae volitantes and serve us grow , which is why I write this document.[2 ] Google has several preconception and honest word about these biases is being silenced by the dominant political orientation . What follows is by no agency the terminated story , but it ’s a perspective that desperately needs to be told at Google .
Google’s biases
At Google , we talk so much about unconscious bias as it applies to race and gender , but we rarely discourse our moral biases . Political orientation is in reality a outcome of deep moral preferences and thus biases . Considering that the overwhelming legal age of the social sciences , medium , and Google lean lead , we should critically examine these prejudices .
Left Biases
Compassion for the infirm
disparity are due to injustices
Humans are inherently accommodative
Change is good ( unsound )
afford
Idealist
Right Biases
Respect for the substantial / government agency
Disparities are natural and just
homo are inherently competitive
Change is grievous ( static )
close
Pragmatic
Neither side is 100 % correct and both viewpoints are necessary for a go society or , in this typeface , caller . A company too far to the right may be tedious to react , overly hierarchical , and untrusting of others . In contrast , a party too far to the left field will constantly be changing ( deprecating much loved avail ) , over branch out its interest ( ignore or being ashamed of its core business ) , and overly trust its employee and challenger .
Only fact and reason can shed light on these preconception , but when it come up to diversity and inclusion , Google ’s left prejudice has create a politically correct monoculture that maintain its hold by shaming dissenters into silence . This secrecy remove any checks against encroaching extremist and authoritarian policies . For the quietus of this document , I ’ll concentrate on the extreme stance that all differences in effect are due to differential intervention and the authoritarian component that ’s ask to actually discriminate to create equal representation .
Possible non-bias causes of the gender gap in tech [3]
At Google , we ’re on a regular basis tell that implicit ( unconscious ) and explicit prejudice are holding adult female back in tech and leadership . Of of course , man and women experience bias , technical school , and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this , but it ’s far from the whole story .
On average , men and women biologically differ in many ways . These remainder are n’t just socially constructed because :
They ’re ecumenical across human cultures
They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal testosterone
Biological males that were castrated at giving birth and call forth as females often still identify and act like male person
The underlie traits are extremely heritable
They ’re precisely what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective
observe , I ’m not enjoin that all men dissent from fair sex in the following ways or that these differences are “ just . ” I ’m simply stating that the distribution of predilection and power of man and woman take issue in part due to biologic drive and that these conflict may explain why we do n’t see equal theatrical of women in tech and leadership . Many of these divergence are little and there ’s significant intersection between men and women , so you ca n’t say anything about an somebody given these population stratum distributions .
Personality differences
Women , on average , have more :
receptivity directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas . Women mostly also have a solid interest in citizenry rather than things , proportional to men ( also interpreted as empathizing vs. systemizing ) .
These two differences in part explain why women relatively opt Book of Job in social or artistic area . More men may like coding because it requires systemize and even within SWEs , comparatively more fair sex play on front ending , which deals with both the great unwashed and esthetics .
Extraversion carry as gregariousness rather than assertiveness . Also , high agreeability .
This head to women generally have a harder clock time negociate remuneration , asking for raises , speaking up , and leading . Note that these are just average conflict and there ’s overlap between Man and adult female , but this is realise entirely as a women ’s issue . This conduct to exclusory broadcast like Stretch and swaths of serviceman without support .
Neuroticism ( higher anxiousness , lower stress tolerance).This may impart to the higher levels of anxiety woman cover on Googlegeist and to the lower number of womanhood in high tenseness jobs .
Note that wayward to what a social constructionist would debate , research indicate that “ with child nation - level gender par direct to psychological unsimilarity in men ’s and women ’s personality traits . ” Because as “ gild becomes more prosperous and more egalitarian , innate dispositional differences between men and women have more outer space to develop and the col that exists between men and women in their personality becomes wide-eyed . ” We need to stop get into that gender gap entail sexism .
Men’s higher drive for status
We always ask why we do n’t see women in top leadership positions , but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs . These place often ask long , nerve-wracking hours that may not be deserving it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life .
Status is the elemental metric unit that men are adjudicate on[4 ] , pushing many men into these high paying , less satisfying occupation for the status that they mean . Note , the same forces that lead men into high pay / gamy tenseness line of work in tech and leadership cause men to take undesirable and dangerous jobs like ember mining , garbage collection , and firefighting , and suffer 93 % of work - relate dying .
Non-discriminatory ways to reduce the gender gap
Below I ’ll go over some of the differences in distribution of trait between men and women that I outline in the late section and paint a picture ways to speak them to increase women ’s representation in tech and without repair to favouritism . Google is already prepare strides in many of these areas , but I think it ’s still instructive to number them :
woman on average show a higher stake in multitude and men in things
We can make software engineering more masses - orientate with duo programing and more coaction . Unfortunately , there may be limits to how people - oriented sure roles and Google can be and we should n’t lead on ourselves or students into thinking otherwise ( some of our political program to get female students into coding might be doing this ) .
char on average are more cooperative
Allow those exhibiting cooperative behaviour to thrive . Recent update to Perf may be doing this to an extent , but perchance there ’s more we can do . This does n’t have in mind that we should polish off all competitiveness from Google . Competitiveness and self reliance can be valuable traits and we should n’t necessarily disadvantage those that have them , like what ’s been done in education . Women on mean are more prone to anxiousness . Make technical school and leadership less stressful . Google already part does this with its many stress reduction class and welfare .
Women on mean flavour for more work - life balance while men have a higher drive for status on medium
unluckily , as long as tech and leadership stay on high status , lucrative life history , men may disproportionately want to be in them . Allowing and truly plunk for ( as part of our polish ) part time study though can keep more charwoman in technical school .
The male grammatical gender role is currently inflexible
Feminism has made great progression in relieve woman from the distaff sex role , but men are still very much tied to the virile gender role . If we , as a society , allow men to be more “ feminine , ” then the gender disruption will shrink , although in all likelihood because gentleman’s gentleman will pass on technical school and leaders for traditionally womanly roles .
Philosophically , I do n’t cogitate we should do arbitrary social engineering of tech just to make it invoke to equal portions of both men and women . For each of these change , we need principles reason for why it help Google ; that is , we should be optimizing for Google — with Google ’s multifariousness being a component of that . For exemplar presently those taste to work surplus hours or take extra stress will inevitably get ahead and if we attempt to change that too much , it may have fateful consequences . Also , when moot the cost and benefit , we should keep in mind that Google ’s backing is finite so its allocation is more zero - sum than is more often than not acknowledge .
The Harm of Google’s biases
I strongly believe in sexuality and racial diversity , and I intend we should strain for more . However , to achieve a more equal gender and race representation , Google has created several discriminatory practices :
Programs , mentoring , and classes only for people with a sealed gender or raceway [ 5 ]
A eminent antecedency queue and special intervention for “ diversity ” candidates
Hiring pattern which can effectively frown the bar for “ variety ” candidates by decreasing the false negative rate
Reconsidering any set of people if it ’s not “ diverse ” enough , but not showing that same scrutiny in the reverse direction ( clear confirmation prejudice )
Setting org horizontal surface OKRs for increase representation which can incentivize illegal favouritism [ 6 ]
These practices are based on false assumptions generated by our biases and can in reality increase race and sex tenseness . We ’re secern by fourth-year leading that what we ’re doing is both the virtuously and economically right thing to do , but without grounds this is just veiled left ideology[7 ] that can irreparably harm Google .
Why we’re blind
We all have prejudice and apply motivated reasoning to dismiss ideas that run counter to our internal value . Just as some on the correct deny skill that runs counter to the “ God > humans > environment ” hierarchy ( for example , organic evolution and climate change ) the Left tend to deny science concerning biological difference between multitude ( e.g. , IQ[8 ] and sex differences ) . Thankfully , climate scientists and evolutionary biologists generally are n’t on the right . Unfortunately , the consuming majority of humanities and societal scientist learn left ( about 95 % ) , which create enormous confirmation bias , changes what ’s being studied , and maintains myth like societal constructionism and the gender wage gap[9 ] . Google ’s leave leaning makes us blind to this bias and uncritical of its results , which we ’re using to absolve extremely politicized programs .
In addition to the Left ’s affinity for those it sees as weakly , humans are in the main biased towards protecting females . As mentioned before , this likely evolved because males are biologically disposable and because women are by and large more cooperative and areeable than gentleman’s gentleman . We have extensive authorities and Google programme , playing area of bailiwick , and legal and social norms to protect women , but when a military personnel complains about a sex issue issue [ sic ] affecting valet de chambre , he ’s labelled as a woman hater and whiner[10 ] . virtually every difference between men and woman is understand as a form of women ’s oppression . As with many thing in lifespan , gender difference are often a case of “ grass being greener on the other side ” ; unfortunately , taxpayer and Google money is spend to water only one side of the lawn .
The same compassion for those seen as weak creates political correctness[11 ] , which constrains discourse and is self-complacent to the extremely sensitive personal computer - dictator that use violence and attaint to raise their cause . While Google has n’t entertain the violent collectivist objection that we ’re seeing at universities , the frequent shaming in TGIF and in our cultivation has created the same secretiveness , psychologically insecure environment .
Suggestions
I hope it ’s clean-cut that I ’m not say that diversity is high-risk , that Google or order is 100 % fair , that we should n’t examine to castigate for survive biases , or that minority have the same experience of those in the bulk . My large peak is that we have an intolerance for idea and grounds that do n’t fit a certain political orientation . I ’m also not saying that we should qualify people to sealed gender theatrical role ; I ’m advocating for quite the inverse : handle people as individuals , not as just another member of their group ( tribalism ) .
My concrete suggestions are to :
De-moralize diversity.
As soon as we start to moralize an issue , we stop thinking about it in term of costs and benefit , dismiss anyone that take issue as immoral , and harshly penalize those we see as villains to protect the “ dupe . ”
Stop alienating conservatives.
Viewpoint diversity is arguably the most of import eccentric of diversity and political orientation is one of the most cardinal and important way in which people view things other than .
In highly progressive environments , conservatives are a minority that feel like they need to stay put in the loo to obviate receptive ill will . We should empower those with dissimilar ideology to be able-bodied to show themselves .
Alienating conservativist is both non - inclusive and generally bad business because conservatives be given to be higher in conscientiousness , which is require for much of the drudgery and sustenance study characteristic of a ripe company .
Confront Google’s biases.
I ’ve mostly concentrated on how our biases dapple our cerebration about diverseness and inclusion , but our moral biases are farther give than that .
I would begin by bring out down Googlegeist score by political orientation and personality to give a fuller movie into how our biases are bear on our culture .
Stop restricting programs and classes to certain genders or races.
These prejudiced practices are both unfair and dissentious . Instead concentrate on some of the non - discriminatory practices I outlined .
Have an open and honest discussion about the costs and benefits of our diversity programs.
Discriminating just to increase the representation of women in tech is as misguided and predetermine as mandate increases for women ’s representation in the homeless , body of work - related and violent deaths , prisons , and shoal dropout .
There ’s currently very little transparency into the extend of our multifariousness programs which keeps it immune to critique from those outside its ideological echo sleeping room .
These programs are extremely politicise which further alienate non - progressives .
I clear that some of our programs may be precaution against governing accusations of discrimination , but that can easy recoil since they incentivize illegal discrimination .
Focus on psychological safety, not just race/gender diversity.
We should focus on psychological rubber , which has shown positive effects and should ( hopefully ) not run to unfair favoritism .
We want psychological base hit and shared value to gain the benefit of variety
Having representative viewpoints is authoritative for those designing and testing our products , but the benefit are less clear for those more removed from UX .
De-emphasize empathy.
I ’ve find out several calls for increase empathy on diversity issue . While I powerfully support trying to empathize how and why people think the way they do , trust on affective empathy — feeling another ’s pain — causes us to focalise on anecdotes , privilege individuals standardized to us , and harbour other irrational and dangerous biases . Being emotionally unengaged aid us better reason about the facts .
Prioritize intention.
Our focus on microaggressions and other unintentional transgression increases our sensitivity , which is not universally positive : sensitiveness increases both our propensity to take crime and our self censorship , lead to authoritarian insurance . mouth up without the veneration of being raspingly judged is key to psychological safety , but these practices can slay that safe by judging unintentional transgressions .
Microaggression education incorrectly and dangerously liken speech with fierceness and is n’t backed by grounds .
Be open about the science of human nature.
Once we recognize that not all differences are socially constructed or due to secernment , we open up our eyes to a more accurate view of the human condition which is necessary if we actually desire to resolve problem .
Reconsider making Unconscious Bias training mandatory for promo committees.
We have n’t been able-bodied to appraise any event of our Unconscious Bias training and it has the potential for overcorrecting or backlash , especially if made mandatory .
Some of the suggested methods of the current training ( v2.3 ) are likely useful , but the political bias of the presentation is clear from the factual inaccuracies and the examples shown .
Spend more time on the many other types of biases besides stereotypes . Stereotypes are much more accurate and reactive to new information than the breeding suggests ( I ’m not advocating for using stereotype , I [ sic ] just pointing out the actual inaccuracy of what ’s said in the training ) .
[ 1 ] This papers is mostly written from the perspective of Google ’s Mountain View campus , I ca n’t speak about other office staff or countries .
[ 2 ] Of course , I may be biased and only see grounds that supports my viewpoint . In terms of political biases , I consider myself a classical progressive and strongly prise laissez faire and reason . I ’d be very happy to hash out any of the document further and provide more citations .
[ 3 ] Throughout the papers , by “ tech ” , I mostly mean software system engineering .
[ 4 ] For heterosexual romantic relationship , Man are more strongly adjudicate by position and women by beauty . Again , this has biological origins and is culturally universal .
[ 5 ] Stretch , BOLD , CSSI , Engineering Practicum ( to an extent ) , and several other Google funded inner and external programs are for multitude with a certain gender or race .
[ 6 ] rather place Googlegeist OKRs , potentially for certain demographics . We can increase representation at an org layer by either making it a good environment for certain groups ( which would be seen in survey score ) or discriminate based on a protect position ( which is illegal and I ’ve seen it done ) . Increased representation OKRs can incentivize the latter and create zero - sum struggles between orgs .
[ 7 ] Communism promised to be both morally and economically superscript to capitalist economy , but every attempt became morally tainted and an economic failure . As it became clear that the work year of the liberal democracy was n’t going to overthrow their “ capitalist oppressors , ” the Marxist intellectuals transitioned from category warfare to grammatical gender and race politics . The core oppressor - oppressed dynamics stay , but now the oppressor is the “ blank , straight , Ci - gendered patriarchy . ”
[ 8 ] Ironically , I.Q. tests were initially championed by the Left when meritocracy meant help oneself the victims of the aristocracy .
[ 9 ] Yes , in a national aggregate , women have scummy pay than men for a diverseness of reasons . For the same work though , charwoman get paid just as much as men . view women pass more money than men and that salary represents how much the employees forfeiture ( for example more hours , stress , and danger ) , we really need to rethink our stereotypes around force .
[ 10 ] “ The diehard system of gender does not treat well with the idea of men needing support . Men are expected to be strong , to not complain , and to deal with problems on their own . Men ’s problems are more often seen as personal failings rather than victimhood , , due to our gendered idea of agency . This discourages piece from bring attention to their offspring ( whether individual or radical - wide issues ) , for fear of being seen as whiner , complainers , or faint . ”
[ 11 ] Political correctness is define as “ the turning away of course of expression or action that are perceived to exclude , marginalize , or diss mathematical group of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminate against , ” which make it clear why it ’s a phenomenon of the Left and a peter of authoritarians .
Update 8/5/17 7:25pm ET : Google ’s new Vice President of Diversity , Integrity & Governance , Danielle Brown , issued the following affirmation in response to the internal employee memo :
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 give the heated debate we ’ve seen over the preceding few days , I feel compelled to say a few words .
Many of you have scan an interior document shared by someone in our engineering administration , expressing views on the lifelike ability and characteristics of dissimilar genders , as well as whether one can speak freely of these things at Google . And like many of you , I find that it further wrong assumptions about sex . I ’m not going to tie in to it here as it ’s not a viewpoint that I or this party second , advance or encourages .
Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of our value and the refinement we continue to tame . We are unequivocal in our opinion that diversity and inclusion body are critical to our success as a company , and we ’ll stay on to fend for that and be charge to it for the farsighted haul . As Ari Balogh said in his home G+ Wiley Post , “ build an undecided , inclusive surround is core to who we are , and the right thing to do . ‘ Nuff said . “
Google has taken a strong stall on this issue , by releasing its demographic data and creating a company wide OKR on diversity and comprehension . secure stands elicit solid reactions . Changing a refinement is severe , and it ’s often uncomfortable . But I firm consider Google is doing the good thing , and that ’s why I rent this line .
Part of work up an open , inclusive surround means fostering a culture in which those with alternate vista , include different political views , feel safe share their opinion . But that discussion necessitate to work alongside the principle of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct , policies , and anti - discrimination laws .
I ’ve been in the manufacture for a long time , and I can tell you that I ’ve never work at a party that has so many platforms for employees to convey themselves — TGIF , Memegen , intragroup G+ , thousands of discussion mathematical group . I know this conversation does n’t stop with my email today . I look forth to continuing to hear your thoughts as I settle in and meet with Googlers across the company .
Thanks ,
Danielle
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