A few days ago, a sexist memo written by ex-Google employee James Damore went viral on social media. In his 10-page memo, he tries to convince everyone that women are not "biologically" wired for careers in tech or leadership positions. He tries to back up this idea by saying women were born with a lower tolerance for stress and that men were born with a higher drive for status. He called Google's efforts to have a more equal representation of women in tech "unfair, divisive, and bad for business." As expected, women and men at Google did not react well to his 10 pages of absolute bull and he was fired.
As a woman pursuing a career in business, Damore's memo really struck a nerve. It baffles me how anyone could deny that this memo was made with the intention to discourage Google from promoting gender equality. I hate to break it to you Mr. Damore, but Google hires women because they are just as qualified, intelligent and talented as the men who work there.
If Damore finds Google's efforts to improve gender equality in the workplace threatening, he clearly does not value diversity and inclusion. It's laughable that he begins his memo claiming that he doesn't endorse sexism and is all about "mutual respect and acceptance".
Unfortunately, there are people out there openly defending this man's opinions and it's not surprising.
Here's my opinion:
It's true that there are fewer women in STEM, but arguing that it's because of our "biological makeup" is a lame excuse. Regardless of whether or not you believe there is a scientific reason why there are fewer women in STEM, you can't deny that there's been a history of women being discriminated against in the workplace — and I think this history of being restrained and disfavored is what discourages women. I know this, because *surprise* this doesn't just happen in STEM. It happens in the business world too. Let me cite some #realfacts.
A few months ago, my friend Emily Ward wrote an article about a social experiment carried out by a man named Martin Schneider. He received a complaint from his boss that one of his coworkers took too long to work with a client. His boss asked him to take over, since he thought Martin was more experienced. Confident, Martin agreed to help her out. However, when he sent emails to the client on Nicole's behalf, the client continued to be rude and dismissive. He constantly questioned Nicole's qualifications and her ability to "understand industry standards".
Deciding to try something new, he began to sign the emails "Martin" rather than "Nicole." He told the client he was taking over the project for her. Suddenly, the client from hell gave positive responses and thanked him for all his suggestions. Martin's techniques and advice never changed. The only thing that made the client more responsive was that simple fact that he was a man.
Curious as to whether this was just a fluke, Nicole and Martin decided to conduct a social experiment. For two weeks, they switched names. Nicole signed off as Martin, and vice versa.
Nicole had the most productive two weeks of her career. She didn't have to deal with clients questioning her ability. On the other hand, Martin struggled. All of his recommendations were questioned, and all of his clients were condescending. One client asked him if he was single.
The saddest outcome of the experiment: They showed their boss, and he didn't care. Martin was shocked, but Nicole was used to the treatment that Martin experienced for just two weeks. The two hardest weeks Martin ever experienced is what Nicole has had to experience since the beginning of her career.
Martin learned that he wasn't more skilled or more intelligent than Nicole. He wasn't better than her. The only advantage he had over her was that he's a man — an advantage that men like James Damore need to acknowledge.
I hope men like Damore realize that being a man doesn't make them psychologically or biologically better at a job than a woman. Being a man gives them the advantage of not needing to deal with sexism, having your abilities questioned, or needing to work twice as hard to gain the same amount of respect as your male coworkers.
Unlike you, I'm not going to cry or complain that it's "unfair, divisive, and bad for business" because like Nicole said, I'm used to it. Instead, I'm going to continue working hard and fighting with the drive that I was born with (funny, because apparently women don't have that in their DNA??). I'm going to surround myself with an environment where people respect each other, regardless of gender.
And I didn't need to write 10 pages to get that point across :)
