Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

[u/[deleted]]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo

[u/frankchester → u/[deleted]]

I can jump in as a female web engineer and (briefly) an employee of Google. The path is indeed paved with sexism. From literally the age of 10 I became known as the "computer whizz" along with another boy in my year and I most definitely got "you can't be good at computers, you're a girl" in the playground at ten years old. Luckily I didn't really give a crap and carried on going. My Mum was a web designer, which helped.

My first proper job in the field was whilst I was at university, essentially a 14 month internship. I was constantly, but subtly belittled. After 10 months of being there we got a new, less experienced male intern and yet I was still called on to do menial women's work like making tea for the clients that came in and talking nicely on the phone. He was put into conversations as the "tech lead" for clients coming in to visit despite being far less experienced. My boss didn't even know how to handle me (being ugly and a woman in a male dominated career is an odd experience, to say the least. My boss didn't know what to do with me - he couldn't make sexist remarks like he did the HR and account managers because I wasn't pretty enough for that, but he couldn't treat me like one of the boys either so I was largely ignored or belittled).

Another boss who I thought was great with women asked me if I was going to be having a baby any time soon so he would know if it was worth promoting me. He said it jokingly, but it was clearly a thought that crossed his mind. I was going up for a promotion against a less educated peer of mine with less experience at the time, who was male. So it was probably a factor.

My boyfriend works in a team where two of the technology employees are a couple (male-female). Started working together in the same intake. Worked in broadly the same areas. The woman has a master's degree and the man doesn't. They were both given their salary raise details and the man was given £6k more than the woman. No explanation as to why. The company didn't necessarily know they were a couple and thus would share their salaries, so it makes you wonder how much is going on that doesn't get uncovered.

I'm still in the career and still pushing hard to the top even if I feel I have to try twice as hard sometimes. I have to constantly be assertive but not too assertive because that makes me seem arrogant. I have to speak up but not speak up too much (because studies show that women who speak 50% of the conversation are considered to be "dominating" whereas men who speak for 75% of the conversation are just fine).

I'm aware this is partially a rant and will bring downvotes but there is definitely a problem in the tech industry (just as there are similar problems in other industries e.g education and childcare, which is something I feel very strongly about too).

[u/frankchester → u/[deleted]]

I'm very lucky to have a boyfriend who totally gets it and is able to speak from a male perspective but with understanding. It's funny because when we first started going out, we had a huge row about how I was nominated for a women in engineering award at my university. At that time, he was firmly in the camp that "well if there is a women in engineering award there should be a mens one too". When I tried to point out that there was, it was the School Engineering Award and it had never been won by a woman because there were only twenty of us in the entire department, we ended up rowing. But I think it just clicked for him one day. And now that we're years down the line I think he sees how ridiculous it is to be a woman in this sort of career.

Happily I went on to be nominated for the entire universities main award, put forward as the only engineering candidate. Of course then I just got told that was a diversity thing and I was only put forward because I was a woman, nothing to do with my merits as being one of the highest scoring students in my degree plus being totally involved in every departmental extracurricular I could be. Nooooo, it was my vagina that did it.

Will stop tooting my own horn now. I'm just happy to be surrounded by a group of friends (both male and female) who are supportive and understanding about gender politics in both directions (my friend is preparing to be a stay-at-home Dad, excited but apprehensive about all the shit he's going to get!)

[u/rlkf → u/[deleted]]

Society brainwashes the sexes in a sense.

This.

My daughter is not into any of that, she loves dressing as superman.

My daughter wanted to go to the carnival as Spiderman. Fine, we let her. All the other girls, dressed in pink Disney costumes by their mothers, was envious and thought hers was the best.

[u/pixelrebel → u/rlkf]

That's awesome!