Gender Disparity in Google

Why in news?

A 10-page internal memo titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber”was recently leaked by an employee at Google.

What was the memo about?

• It attempts to justify gender imbalance and systemic discrimination in the workplace.
• It states that “men and women biologically differ in many ways” and that “Women, on average, have more Neuroticism (higher anxiety, lower stress tolerance)”.
• Now Google has distanced itself from the memo.

What is the situation of women in Silicon Valley?

• Google, like other companies often do during the time of accusations, is trying to dismiss the pseudo-science and bigotry of the memo as the outburst of a single individual.
• But the reality is, these underlying assumptions are common among many in the Silicon Valley.
• They also more often than not blame the victim.
• Earlier this year, Google was accused of gender pay discrimination by the US labour department.
• Uber’s CEO also resigned after stories of harassment and discrimination in the company came to light.
• In 2016, a survey found that 60% of the women working in Silicon Valley received unwanted sexual advances and 87% witnessed demeaning comments from colleagues.
• Ideas like those in the Google document are a poor attempt to turn the clock back to when patriarchal privilege could display itself with impunity.

Source: The Indian Express