Diversity programs at Google discriminatory, says engineer's anti-diversity manifesto

SAN FRANCISCO — A document written by an unnamed senior software engineer at Google suggesting the company encourage "ideological" rather than gender diversity, is generating anger within the company and in Silicon Valley.

Titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," the male author wrote that women don't make up 50% of the company's tech and leadership positions not because of sexism but because of differences in their preferences and abilities.

He also writes that the company's focus on diversity tends to alienate conservatives, which he believes is bad for business as conservatives tend to be more conscientious, a trait that is required for "much of the drudgery and maintenance work characteristic of a mature company."

The essay comes as Google is engaged in an ongoing effort to try to get more women and minorities into technical and leadership jobs, and as the Mountain View-based company is being investigated by the Labor Department over allegations that it does not pay men and women equally.

Just a month ago Google hired Danielle Brown, the former head of diversity at Intel, to be its vice president of diversity.

In the past several years as staffing data has come out, Silicon Valley firms have been shown to hire a high proportion of white and Asian men, but fewer women and other minorities. Increased efforts to deal with the lack of diversity have also created a backlash against such initiatives.

The 10-page manifesto against Google's diversity initiatives appears to have first been circulated internally at the company Friday. It was initially reported by Motherboard.

On Saturday Gizmodo published the full document, prompting a flood of angry tweets and some supporting the writer's right to free speech.