Coding is a skill for every industry, and women must be involved

A Google engineer recently found himself out of work after sharing a ten-page memo outlining why the tech giant should quit its diversity programs.

His firing from Google has caused outrage from those advocating freedom of speech and more scope for employees to have their say. Penned anonymously, the tirade was later revealed to have come from James Damore, a software engineer. He’s become a poster boy for the ‘alt right’, but he’s told CNN he doesn’t personally support the movement.

But his writing of this manifesto in the first place came from a long list of engrained sexist attitudes regarding women in tech – especially in suggesting his female colleagues were inferior because, “The distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.”

They’re attitudes that not only affect women already in the sector and particularly at Google, but contribute to the stereotype that tech is an industry for men.

In Australia, just 28% of the ICT workforce is female, according to the Australian Computer Society. That figure drops significantly lower when it comes to technical positions. At Google, less than one in five of its technical workforce are female. Read more

Angela Priestly - Smart Company - 18 Aug 2017