DIVERSITY - Silicon Valley

"How Silicon Valley is trying to fix its diversity problem" PBS NewsHour 1/15/2016

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SUMMARY:  Almost two years after major tech firms began publicizing their diversity numbers, recent figures show that Silicon Valley employees are still overwhelmingly white and male.  Hari Sreenivasan reports on the steps these companies are taking to address their race and gender problems, from software algorithms to education and recruitment initiatives.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Silicon Valley, the home of the California tech industry, has long been criticized for its lack of diversity.  Almost two years after major companies, led by Google and Intel, started to publicize their diversity numbers, the ethnic and gender makeup of the industry’s work force remains almost the same.

Analysis of employees at the leading tech firms that report such figures reveals, on average, 71 percent are men, 29 percent are women, 60 percent identify as white, 23 percent Asian, 8 percent Latino, and 7 percent black.

So, what exactly is Silicon Valley doing to improve its diversity?

Hari Sreenivasan takes a look in the first of two stories.

JOELLE EMERSON, CEO, Paradigm:  Raise your hand if you have heard of unconscious bias before?

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  The notion that hidden bias can be methodically stamped out of the workplace has become popular with tech companies across Silicon Valley.

JOELLE EMERSON:  By managing unconscious bias, we make better decisions.  So, unconscious bias acts as a significant barrier to objective, data-driven decision making.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  That was the message being delivered by Joelle Emerson, a former sexual harassment litigator who now spends most of her time helping multibillion-dollar start-ups diversify their work forces.

"Tech giant Google working to diversify staff" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2016

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SUMMARY:  American technology companies like Apple, Facebook and Google are striving to improve gender and racial diversity in their workforce.  Having revealed their staffs are predominantly white men, the companies are spending furiously to recruit and keep people who aren’t.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.