{"id":39587,"date":"2017-08-08T11:33:13","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T11:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=39587"},"modified":"2017-08-08T11:33:13","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T11:33:13","slug":"google-fires-engineer-wrote-memo-questioning-women-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/business\/google-fires-engineer-wrote-memo-questioning-women-tech.html","title":{"rendered":"Google Fires Engineer Who Wrote Memo Questioning Women in Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google Fires Engineer Who Wrote Memo Questioning Women in Tech<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Google Fires Engineer Who Wrote Memo Questioning Women in Tech:- Google on Monday fired a software engineer who wrote an internal memo that questioned the company\u2019s diversity efforts and argued that the low number of women in technical positions was a result of biological differences instead of discrimination.<\/span><\/p>\n

The memo, called \u201cGoogle\u2019s Ideological Echo Chamber,\u201d angered many in Silicon Valley because it relied on certain gender stereotypes \u2014 like the notion that women are less interested in high-stress jobs because they are more anxious \u2014 to rationalize the gender gap in the tech industry. The memo quickly spread outside the company, as other Google employees railed against many of its assumptions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a companywide email, Google\u2019s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said portions of the memo had violated the company\u2019s code of conduct and crossed the line \u201cby advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The memo put the company in a bind. On one hand, Google has long promoted a culture of openness, with employees allowed to question senior executives and even mock its strategy in internal forums. However, Google, like many other technology firms, is dealing with criticism that it has not done enough to hire and promote women and minorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

One female Google engineer posted on Twitter upon reading the memo that she would consider leaving the company unless the human resources department took action.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an email titled \u201cOur Words Matter,\u201d Mr. Pichai said that he supported the right of employees to express themselves but that the memo had gone too far.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe memo has clearly impacted our co-workers, some of whom are hurting and feel judged based on their gender,\u201d Mr. Pichai wrote. \u201cOur co-workers shouldn\u2019t have to worry that each time they open their mouths to speak in a meeting, they have to prove that they are not like the memo states, being \u2018agreeable\u2019 rather than \u2018assertive,\u2019 showing a \u2018lower stress tolerance,\u2019 or being \u2018neurotic.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

James Damore, the software engineer who wrote the original memo, confirmed in an email to The New York Times that he had been fired. Mr. Damore had worked at Google since 2013. He said in his memo that he had written it in the hope of having an \u201chonest discussion\u201d about how the company had an intolerance for ideologies that do not fit into what he believed were its left-leaning biases.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Damore, who worked on infrastructure for Google\u2019s search product, said he believed that the company\u2019s actions were illegal and that he would \u201clikely be pursuing legal action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a legal right to express my concerns about the terms and conditions of my working environment and to bring up potentially illegal behavior, which is what my document does,\u201d Mr. Damore said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pichai\u2019s memo was reported earlier by Recode, and Bloomberg confirmed Mr. Damore\u2019s dismissal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before being fired, Mr. Damore said, he had submitted a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board claiming that Google\u2019s upper management was \u201cmisrepresenting and shaming me in order to silence my complaints.\u201d He added that it was \u201cillegal to retaliate\u201d against an N.L.R.B. charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pichai said he would be cutting short a family vacation to return to Google\u2019s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to deal with the matter. He said the company intended to hold an all-hands meeting to discuss the issue on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/08\/07\/business\/google-women-engineer-fired-memo.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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