Google is undergoing major internal soul-searching after a memo written by an employee justifying a gender pay gap at least partially on biological differences between men and women went viral inside and outside the company.
The unidentified male engineer’s 10-page document, which was printed in full on Gizmodo, lambasts the company’s leadership for what he called a “left-leaning culture” that alienates conservatives and creates an “echo chamber.”
“We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” he wrote.
“Differences in distributions of traits between men and women may in part explain why we don’t have 50% representation of women in tech and leadership. Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive, and bad for business,” the engineer concluded.
The memo, which made its rounds inside Google a few days ago, was first reported by Motherboard on Friday.
“If HR does nothing in this case, I will consider leaving this company for real for the first time in five years,” tweeted one irate female coworker.
It’s not the kind of attention Google needed amid a Department of Labor investigation looking into accusations that the company is paying women employees less than men.
Write a doc about how inferior women are, then try to be a hero by offering help to save the *vulnerable* ??? Still shaking in anger.
— Jaana B. Dogan ? (@rakyll) August 4, 2017
Google’s newly hired VP of diversity, Danielle Brown, released her own internal memo on Saturday, emphasizing that the company does not endorse that viewpoint, CNBC reported.
But the tech giant isn’t the only Silicon Valley powerhouse to be branded as having a Neanderthal corporate culture. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down in June, four months after former engineer Susan Fowler went public with allegations of continual harassment and discrimination against women at the company.
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