Posted on 08/08/2017 1:31:23 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Both online and on air, CNN misrepresented the content of a widely shared internal memo that led Google to fire one of its software engineers.
In a tweet, CNN claimed the author of the Google memo wrote that women "aren't suited for tech jobs."
Google execs respond to a manifesto by one of its male engineers that argues women aren't suited for tech jobs https://t.co/oPMfK8v1YB pic.twitter.com/slQVeL7F84
— CNN (@CNN) August 8, 2017
CNN.com's write-up likewise claimed that the author of the "anti-diversity manifesto" argued "women aren't suited for tech jobs for ‘biological' reasons."
The same narrative emerged in CNN's on-air reporting. Host Poppy Harlow complained that the "anti-diversity" memo said "women are less suited for tech jobs than men. Why? Because they're women! Biologically, they can't do it."
But the actual memo simply does not say what CNN claims it does. To begin with, the author of the Google memo is not opposed to "diversity" in the abstract, but is opposed to Google's methods for advancing it.
"I hope it's clear that I'm not saying that diversity is bad," the author says at one point. Elsewhere he notes, "I strongly believe in gender and racial diversity, and I think we should strive for more."
Instead, the author's complaint is that Google "has created several discriminatory practices" in its quest for diversity, including affirmative action programs and services available only to women. In one lengthy section, the author lays out alternative ways to increase women's representation in the company without resorting to "discrimination."
CNN's assertion that the author forwards the idea that women are biologically incapable of carrying out tech jobs likewise misunderstands his argument. The author actually argues it is possible that biological differences might impact women's job preferences, leading to the persistent gender gap in tech jobs.
He argues that studies show biology might be the reason why men are more likely to seek out high-stress, systematic jobs, while women are more likely to seek out low-stress jobs where they can form personal relationships and maintain a better work-life balance.
"These two differences in part explain why women relatively prefer jobs in social or artistic areas," the author writes. "More men may like coding because it requires systemizing and even within [the Society of Women Engineers], comparatively more women work on front end, which deals with both people and aesthetics."
The author never comes anywhere close to saying women "can't do" tech jobs. He stresses that he is talking about men and women on average, and there are many women who are equal (or better) than the average man.
"Many of these differences are small and there’s significant overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions," he writes.
"I'm also not saying that we should restrict people to certain gender roles," he concludes. "I'm advocating for quite the opposite: treat people as individuals, not as just another member of their group (tribalism)."
CNN lying is par for the course.
I think that there might be a liable lawsuit in the making because I am betting that he was fired not for the memo but how the memo was reported by CNN.
CNN seems incapable of neutral, non-biased, reporting.
I can say this without exaggeration: I no longer trust the MSM to report anything accurately that touches on politics, public policy, or social issues.
From what I read about the circumstances leading to his firing, he could very well have a harassment/hostile work environment case against Google.
We have to take equal opportunity training once or twice a year (I don’t remember because we take so much training). One topic covered is hostile work environment: one person says something derogatory about another, and starts spreading denigrating rumors about the person, thus creating a hostile environment. Google did this: apparently, a manager (?) took a survey of the workers, who all agreed that they could not work with this engineer. And that kind of behavior is illegal.
I hope the engineer sues.
Geez, imagine that. CNN lying.
Good grief! You expected CNN to fairly represent his views?
If the answer is “yes” I’ve got some beachfront property available here in Nevada that I can let you have very cheaply!
It’s even better. The former employee allegedly had already filed a complaint with the EEOC before releasing the memo. Google likely just retaliated against a person complaining of a hostile work environment.
That’s awesome. I hope he has secured a very good lawyer.
bkmk
It’s a process of self-selection and I see it in my profession too. Many women seek out positions that have more regular hours and less stress to facilitate raising a family. Nobody makes them do it and many others don’t. What’s wrong with choices?
Thats interesting. CNBC kept reporting that he said women weren’t biologically successful in tech jobs. So I think the MSM is out for this guy. The reality is he is saying why women don’t take some jobs in tech. They don’t like them. This is true.
I hired programmers and other tech employees for 30 years. Women in general don’t like to sit in front of a computer not talking to people all day. However I have had great female programmers. And I have had great female programmers who did not mind sitting programming all day. However the overwhelming majority of my programmers were male. Most of the applicants were male. And so most of the employees were male. But my project managers tended to be female and my trainers were mostly female. And their jobs were at least slightly technical as they were developing or training software.
The reality is that girls can say this. Gay people can say this. But a straight white conservative male is lucky to be able to say anything. And if he is not good looking, he is in big trouble saying anything.
I actually think that women in general will say yes to a job that has a nice office environment, cute guys, and interesting people to work with. In almost every industry, buyers are women. Sellers are often men, especially if the buyers are women. Women do service jobs even technical service jobs. It won’t be long before women dominate most doctor jobs. Except for surgery, women are graduating from medical school more often than men. So women can handle the technology, they just prefer the interpersonal aspect of a doctor’s job. They like the status too. And they dominate all the health jobs, not just doctors.
The short story is this. Women do what women want. And just because you have a job that women can do, it does not mean they want to.
If that’s the case, then he should sue them.
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