"Exposing Hidden Bias at Google" by nytimes.com exposes the gender and racial differences of Google's workforce. The article talks about Google's, along with other company's, history with hiring men over women and minorities. It even goes on to talk about some of Google's efforts to fix this problem.
I agree with the fact that women and minorities are underrepresented in the modern workforce. Males, specifically white males, are often choose over them. However, I don't think this is something that a big company like Google can just fix by themselves.
I believe big companies aren't hiring as many women and minorities simply because there aren't as much of them to choose from. Meaning, there is a larger amount of white male workers in the U.S., and therefore easier to select the perfect ones companies want to hire.
In the case of minorities, specifically Hispanics and Blacks, they only make up ~25% of the population of the U.S. How many of them are educated? How many of them are skilled in field relating to Google? How many of them live in an area that is of Google interest? When you consider that Google does have requirements for hiring that are necessary, you began to realize that a small percentage of minorities even have a chance of being hired. An even less chance that they are skilled enough to be an asset to Google.
In the case of women, they make up ~51% of the population. It's surprising that females make up more of the population than males, so why aren't they in these advanced jobs? The article explains it well, simply because of unconscious bias and an underlying sexism towards women. Their devised method of noticing this is actually pretty good, they just call out "Unconscious Bias!" every time they notice it.
So how do we solve this problem? Well for one, big companies can't do much other than revise how they hire employees. But that's unrealistic, since most companies don't care much so much about appearance but how good you are. That means this goes all the way back to uneven education. Whites have better access to education, and males even more so. If we want to fix the problems in the workplace, we have to go all the way back to schools. The root of the problem.
I disagree with your response to the article. I think maybe the reason you believe that women and minorities aren't educated is because they aren't as represented in the workforce. If companies don't hire women and minorities then people are going to think they aren't going to school which isn't true. Maybe the reason women aren't in these advanced jobs even though there is a higher female population is because they get overlooked when a male walks in. The attitude that these companies have towards women and minorities might cause them to not want to educated because then they think "what's the point, we're not going to get hired anyway". I also disagree when you said that whites have better access to education because everyone has equal access to elementary, middle, and high school in America and the government provides a lot of financial aid for women and minorities who want to go to university. On the whole I disagree with your view point.
ReplyDeleteAlthough everyone should have access to the same education, in reality that is not true. Poorer areas have less qualified teachers and often have fewer resources. Also, women do not pursue science at the same rates as men (a situation that has been improving int he past couple of decades with increased scholarships and recruitment).
DeleteI enjoyed this response to "exposing Hidden Bias at Google" because this article goes greatly into depth of the article. You also provided a suggestion to solve the issues that are current. I agree with your statement that educational opportunities are different due to living situations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response as it is very similar to my own. I'd like to add how the article never adds how many different types of people applied to Google. I believe it relates to with something you mentioned and that is that there aren't really a variety of people applying. All in all, I agree that maybe the reason as to why there are a majority of white males is because they're also the majority that applies.
ReplyDeleteHey "Vin Central", I think you have a great post. I like that you tried to provide a solution in which we could use. However, I feel as if you don't have supporting details on your claim "Males, specifically white males, are often choose over them." Thanks for the great read. Feel free to view my community post response!
ReplyDeleteWhy can't big companies, who make lots and lots of money, invest in education and other opportunities to improve the situation from it's roots?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this is a rhetorical question, as you probably know the answer to it already, but I think I will respond to it anyway and hopefully spark a bit of discussion. In this extremely capitalist society we live in, money makes the world go round. As such, companies, especially very large ones such as Google, do everything they can to increase profits and keep as much money flowing as possible; which means holding back investments to push society further ahead towards equality through education and other means. Unfortunately for the less privileged minorities within America, this is a true injustice that will hold them back for the foreseeable future.
DeleteI 100% agree with you vincentral. I feel like the main reason that there isn't a lot of diversity in the tech industry is because women don't usually pick this kind of field to go in to. If there isn't a lot of diversity Google should be aware of the situation, but I think that it should hire people solely based on skill level. Google should hire men over women, or women over men just because there is an issue with diversity. As long as Google is being fair and hiring both males and females by the same standards, then I don't see a problem.
ReplyDeleteVincentral, I like how your paragraphs are small and easy to read. I also like how you brought a different point to relate to the topic. However, if you believe the reason why women are underrepresented is because there aren't that many going into the tech field you should have researched data supporting that claim. Overall your blog was nice to read and brought new considerations that I had not thought of before.
ReplyDeleteYour defense of big tech companies really brought a new controversy into my mind because it was a topic I knew about, but had overlooked. It's great that you went to the root of WHY women weren't getting hired, but I still wasn't entirely convinced.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest questions against your argument is: "In areas of poverty, aren't there both men and women?" That determines whether any of them get a good education, right? So wealth and social class may be impacting whether they even have the chance to work in the technology field.
Is seems as though I'm simply attacking your response, but I also noticed very strong points. Your article delves into unconscious bias, a social and cultural taboo restricting women from powerful positions in society. Just that fact alone could have powered a majority of your response with the right support and evidence.
Your article was one of the most interesting I have read, but would have been more appealing to read if your claims were better supported.
I share the same viewpoint on your response as MyLynn. It was interesting to read through multiple blogs then come across yours and see a different viewpoint, but I cannot say I'm quite sold. Also, I wasn't quite sure on your opinion, but do you believe that Google is truly trying to make a change in this situation? Or do you think that they are just picking the best employees that are applying? Personally, I believe that they are taking the best. But when they do this, they do not have a right to claim that they are stressing equal gender rights. Overall your response was a thoughtful and interesting read. P.S cool blog!
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