Beyoncé Knowles once asked the question, “Who run the world?” and her legion of ladies respond with a resounding, “Girls!” Sadly, this anthem for my strong-willed female friends is not accurate in the tech world that defines my education and work life. In recent years, there has been a fantastic push to equalize the gender-gap in the workforce, and I think that our mind is focusing on the right future. However, I have found a conflicting message in my searches for internships and jobs. All these potential employers publicize an equal opportunity clause that states their commitment against discrimination of race, gender, etc., but then everyone says how it’s good to be a girl or minority in the tech industry because companies are looking to diversify. Events occur on campus to help minority students network and get opportunities, but I find a very odd flaw in this system. If all these employers are hiring and recruiting in an un-biased way and not discriminating, then theoretically there would be no gap if they were given an equal representation. I don’t think lack of diversity is a problem in companies and the tech industry, but rather that it is a problem in our education system and the raising of children in a way that discourages an equal opportunity.
A lot of these articles talk about what companies are doing to hire a more diversified group and what companies are doing to even their numbers TODAY. They are being given an unequally representative group and trying to even it out. Companies need to stop thinking about the short-term fix and start realizing that the best and most permanent solution is to fix the problem at the roots. Instead of pouring money into initiatives that help minority students get jobs, we should be giving money to programs that destigmatize gender roles and give access to learning materials to minority programs. This will slowly create an accurate representation for companies to hire from. This will allow the tech industry to finally have an equal employment.
Harvey Mudd College took this approach of fixing the problem in education and succeeded. Harvey Mudd succeeded because they didn’t try and fix the problem by adding programs to include minorities. They succeeded because they fixed the broken, misrepresentative system into one that was conscious to include all. The current system does not mean to be unappealing to women or exclude minorities, but it has grown from a system that was not built for these groups. When Harvey Mudd restructured their program, they rebuilt it to include all groups. They didn’t try to force these groups into a system that wasn’t built for them, but rather made a new one for everyone to join as equals. If this thought process and action of rebuilding happens at the lowest level of education, then we will finally be able to have equal representation in all industries and not have to worry about discrimination. The tech industry has to focus on fixing the problem when it starts and not fixing it at where they encounter the problem.
Ethics Blog 