Google Reveals Low Employee Diversity: 61% White and 70% Male, Does it Matter?

Google recently released its first employee diversity report and the overall picture is that of low diversity: Google employees are predominantly men and predominantly white or Asian. While Google are currently being significantly criticised across a lot of the media right now for their low diversity the real question we should be ask is: is it even Google’s fault? Naturally diversity is a very touchy subject because it implies racism and sexism when a company is not diverse. It is important to note what this data shows: Google’s diversity. It doesn’t show whether Google is actively discriminating women or non-whites from their industry. The data, shown above, reveals different pictures for different job types. Leadership and tech jobs tend to be the most polarised towards white men, while non-tech jobs (which includes routine tasks like cleaning, catering, secretaries and so on) are more equal and diverse because the qualification barriers to entry are significantly lower.

Google’s Laszlo Bock notes “Women earn roughly 18 percent of all computer science degrees in the United States. Blacks and Hispanics make up under 10 percent of U.S. college grads and collect fewer than 5 percent of degrees in CS majors, respectively”. As a result it is hardly surprising the figures stack up the way they do. Google cannot employ more black, hispanic or female employees if they simply do not exist at a qualified enough level to work for Google. Google disclosing this kind of information is an important first step forward to greater diversity and maybe other technology companies will follow suit. Google have admitted to being “miles from where we want to be” with regards to diversity, but that doesn’t mean they can be held solely responsible for problems that exist within the education system and technology entrepreneurship. 

What are your thoughts on Google’s low diversity?

Source: Google

Image courtesy of Google