Susan Wojcicki's Response to the Controversial Google Memo
- Aug 15, 2017
- 2 min read
After the news of the controversial google memo written by software engineer James Damore discussing the biological reason for gender gaps in the technology industry, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, has responded to this memo with a personal essay.
In the essay, Wojcicki tells the story of her daughter asking if there really was a biological reason that their are fewer women in technology. She then continues to talk about how she was lucky to work at a company where she was supported by many, yet she was still a victim of sexism in multiple occasions, including but not limited to being left out of key industry events and having her abilities for the job questioned. Wojcicki recounted her feelings when she saw the memo; the pain of this discrimination, and the sympathy for the many women at google who are now facing conversations about their qualifications. She felt for women who were already dealing with gender bias in their workplace, and about how this incident is another negative sign for girls who want to pursue a STEM career. Some people are defending the memo as an expression of free speech, and google has long stood by employees’ rights to share their opinions on social media, but Wojcicki reminded readers that it doesn’t mean that google shouldn’t be taking action when female employees are “subjected to comments that perpetuate negative stereotypes about them based on their gender.”
Then she asked what would happen if the word “women” in the memo was replaced with another group, like hispanic of LGBTQ, explaining the biological reasons why they are underrepresented in the technology industry, and if the response to the memo would be the same. Wojcicki continued that even though she didn’t want to compare one group over another, she wanted to make it clear though discrimination can take many forms, none of it is acceptable.
The essay comes full circle as Wojcicki answers her daughter’s question with a simple “no, it’s not true.”
It’s so important to remember that discrimination of any kind should never be tolerated.
Read her other essay on gender bias in tech industry.
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