"No, because people of different genders/ethnicities bring different perspectives to the table." What does that even mean? What you want is diversity of opinio

"No, because people of different genders/ethnicities bring different perspectives to the table." What does that even mean? What you want is diversity of opinion (so that, if one person has a bad idea, everyone else will call them on it instead of nodding like sheep), and diversity of talent (so that everyone doesn't share the same weaknesses). I suppose those correlate with gender and ethnicity to some extent, but why not try to hire people with lots of different resumes (coders at big companies, startup founders, independent consultants, people who've lived abroad in different countries, etc.)? That would be way more efficient. "Because if a field is dominated by say, white males, the few women or non-white males are going to feel (frequently with good reason) like they're not taken as seriously by, or seen as being as competent as, the other white males." Proof? Some fields are obviously like this, but why all of them, or even most of them? If a field is dominated by people who are born in the winter (as many professional sports are), is someone born in June going to be assumed to be less competent?