On gender, tech firms are stuck in the past

AGoogle employee’s 10-page letter about gender at the company ripped through Silicon Valley this week, putting into writing what many feared about the sexism inherent in the technology world. James Damore, a computer engineer, drew on now-defunct gender stereotypes and pseudobiology in a 3,000-word appeal to Google to end programmes designed to increase diversity. He argued that women were less technically minded than men, and that they were more interested in people than things. Yesterday he was fired as a result.

The letter cannot be read in isolation or be written off as the opinion of one employee. It is yet another piece of evidence in the case against technology’s Californian idealism, which is in fact built on foundations of sexism.

Silicon Valley is idealised as a liberal and progressive centre of innovation that is dedicated to educating and connecting the world through technology. Its representatives claim their mission is to democratise access to human rights. Google provides access to information to everyone, everywhere, at no cost. Facebook’s platforms bring people together, no matter their creed or colour. Uber puts consumers directly in contact with producers.

But the industry is underpinned by gender inequality. In the Sixties, women led the charge in the software revolution. Male society was preoccupied with hardware development, so programming was taken up by women. Grace Hopper, a famous developer, was hailed for laying the foundations for the Cobol computer language, which is used in many financial and administrative systems today. Then, in the Seventies, the tide turned when programming became a more fundamental part of the technology. Women were squeezed out of prestigious roles. Last year, research from coding platform Github revealed highly competent female coders are forced to hide their gender to have their work accepted.

Gender inequality is becoming a critical test for the world’s largest technology firms, and threatens to undermine their foundations and force a dramatic change in culture. In April, the US government launched an investigation into Google over its alleged gender discrimination. It has been ordered to hand over salary records and employee contract details as part of the ongoing inquiry.

Google’s diversity statistics for 2014, released last year, paint a damning picture. Women make up just 31pc of the search giant’s workforce and 59pc of its employees are white. Only 25pc of its leadership positions are filled by women, and 20pc of its technical jobs. It is too early to predict the outcome of the inquiry or speculate how the findings could affect the company. Google has strongly denied the accusations and said it doesn’t have a gender pay gap.

Damore’s memo about gender diversity at Google is an indictment of the problems. The post, titled “Google’s ideological echo chamber”, outlined how the company should stop gender equality programmes and hire men for technical roles.

Sundar Pichai, the Google chief executive, eventually condemned the memo, saying it “crossed the line” by advancing gender stereotypes. “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK,” said Pichai.

Google isn’t the only technology company embroiled in a gender row, and the incident adds to the case against the industry. Of the major firms, Twitter has the greatest share of women in leadership positions at 30pc, according to analysis by Recode. But just 15pc of its employees in technical roles are women. Facebook follows closely behind with 28pc of its leadership roles filled by women, while Intel and Microsoft’s share of female leaders is just 18pc.

The most high-profile example of discrimination played out earlier this year at Uber, unseating its chief executive. Susan Fowler, a former Uber employee, wrote an open letter to the company outlining the sexual harassment and culture of silence she had suffered there. Eric Holder, a former US attorney general, who was eventually hired to assess the company’s culture, said sexual misconduct was endemic. As a result, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, was forced to step down. A further 20 employees were fired and 40 reprimanded. It only took one case of discrimination to bring down Uber.

Google will attempt to brush this off as the opinion of one individual. But it will be hard for it to recover from the blow to its reputation and its female employees’ esteem.

‘Competent female coders are forced to hide their gender to have work accepted’