Why Some Diversity Thinkers Aren’t Buying The Tech Industry’s Excuses

KUOW.org | Alina Selyukh | July 19

“The thing about the tech industry and employee diversity reports is they can feel like Groundhog Day:” Read more. (Editor’s commentary: seriously, read more.)

VCs May Not Be as Biased as You Think

Fortune | Jeremy Quittner | July 14

“New MIT research explores why women are less likely to get VC funding than men.

“Take a look at the most successful initial public offerings in recent years, and you’re likely to find precious few companies founded or led by women.” Read more.

Facebook pledges $15M to Code.org to promote diversity in K-12 computer science education

Geekwire | Monica Nickelsburg | July 14

“Code.org, a Seattle-based non-profit that promotes computer science education around the world, secured a $15 million donation from Facebook, to be collected over the next five years. The funds will go toward training educators, across the country, in computer science, focusing on low-income and urban school districts, according to Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi.” Read more.

Why South African startups have an equal number of male and female founders

TechRepublic | Aimee Chanthadavong | July 11

“One of the ways that South Africa is developing its startup economy is through helping women, minorities, youth, and people with disabilities start their own businesses.” Read more.

Asian Americans are the highest wage earners. They still face racial discrimination.

Vox.com | Victoria M. Massie | July 6

“A new report shows that men’s and women’s wages are closer to parity than they’ve ever been, but white men and women aren’t necessarily the highest wage earners.” Read more.

Black Girls Code Is Moving Into Google’s New York Offices

Fast Company | Ruth Reader |  June 28

“In a bid to develop a pool of more diverse job candidates, Google is cutting out the pipeline and going right to the source.” Read more.

Why Women Are Becoming an Increasing Force in the Gaming Industry

Media Planet | Melinda Carstensen

“Gaming has long been thought of as a “boys’ club,” not just off limits to women but a hobby in which men are simply more interested. However, data from the Pew Research Center suggests about as many women game as do men: Of those surveyed in 2015, 48 compared with 50 percent, respectively. The same survey suggested the majority of American adults, 60 percent, believe that most people who play video games are men.” Read more.

Sheryl Sandberg on the Myth of the Catty Woman

New York Times | Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant | June 23

“AT the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug was vying for her first individual gold medal. Fresh off a world championship in the 10-kilometer race, she was now competing in the 30-kilometer. More than a grueling hour later, Ms. Johaug landed the silver, finishing less than three seconds behind the gold medalist — her training partner, Marit Bjorgen.” Read more.

For more diversity in the workplace, start with technical roles

TechCrunch | Elizabeth Ames | June 18

“The lack of diversity in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and age is well documented in the technology industry. Public data shared by major tech employers show that women only represent 25 to 45 percent of their entire workforce. The disparity gets worse in technical roles — for the past five years, women have been stuck at 21 percent of technical roles, based on data from the Anita Borg Institute’s Top Companies for Women Technologists survey.” Read more.

Slack Engineer Gives A Simple Answer To Why Tech Diversity Is A Matter Of Business (Video)

International Business Times | Kerry Flynn | June 6

“Is diversity good for business in the tech industry? According to Erica Baker, an engineer for Slack, the best way to answer that question is with another question.

“How many people here know everything there is in the world?” Baker asked an audience Thursday at the Wired Business Conference in New York.” Watch the video.