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From the cited survey: "Less than 5% of investors surveyed by LinkedIn rated diversity as their 'top concern' as compared to macroeconomic conditions, raising

From the cited survey: "Less than 5% of investors surveyed by LinkedIn rated diversity as their 'top concern' as compared to macroeconomic conditions, raising capital, hitting revenue targets, or hiring the right people. More than half of investors ranked founder commitment to a diverse team as the least of their concerns when considering to invest." I'd be surprised if even an investment firm made entirely of "women and minorities in tech" had drastically different priorities than this 5%. Diversity for diversity's sake is not a real solution.

richmarr 10y ago
> Diversity for diversity's sake is not a real solution. As I've commented above but will summarise here, there are two main points to make in reply to this position (i) You're assuming the status quo is based on merit, which studies unambiguously show isn't the case (ii) Studies also show that diverse teams perform better. So this is also about competitive advantage.
- gspetr 10y ago
  Studies also show that women are paid less than men for similar work. Where are all the tech companies created by women, with mostly women as employees capitalizing on the market inefficiency giving them competitive advantage?
  - richmarr 10y ago
    > Studies also show that women are paid less than men for similar work. Yes they do, but don't get hung up on women. Studies also show a beneficial effect from racial diversity. As for your other question, is your point that studies are sometimes wrong, or that women are worth less than men, or that there's a gap in the market?
    - gspetr 10y ago
      My point is the latter.
      - richmarr 10y ago
        Agree with you. A couple of examples of change in that area; Companies taking advantage by mothers who want to the workforce once their kids are in school by offering flexible working. Companies dropping their long-standing policies of hiring from specific schools or attainment levels. These policies are historically quite common in professional services firms, but heavily reduce the available talent pool (and thus the quality of hires, because schools and attainment levels are not strongly predictive of productivity).
        gspetr 10y ago
        When we bring parenthood into the picture I think this is confounding the results that the studies should account for, but in too many cases, they do not. Then the mainstream media and people championing social justice causes often take these results the wrong way (even if they do so for noble reasons) and run with it too far. I think we should compare never married men to never married women, otherwise I believe it to be disingenuous to make that wage gap argument based on gender. Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell argues that economic differences between working men and women are not generally due to employer discrimination, as is widely alleged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EK6Y1X_xa4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EK6Y1X_xa4
        richmarr 10y ago
        >... confounding the results that the studies should account for... You're absolutely right that studies should make sure to control for potentially important variables. I don't know which studies you referring to. Not a topic I've looked at. That said, criticising a second group of studies can't reasonably cast shade over the first group, if that was your implication.

richmarr 10y ago

> Diversity for diversity's sake is not a real solution. As I've commented above but will summarise here, there are two main points to make in reply to this position (i) You're assuming the status quo is based on merit, which studies unambiguously show isn't the case (ii) Studies also show that diverse teams perform better. So this is also about competitive advantage.

gspetr 10y ago
Studies also show that women are paid less than men for similar work. Where are all the tech companies created by women, with mostly women as employees capitalizing on the market inefficiency giving them competitive advantage?
- richmarr 10y ago
  > Studies also show that women are paid less than men for similar work. Yes they do, but don't get hung up on women. Studies also show a beneficial effect from racial diversity. As for your other question, is your point that studies are sometimes wrong, or that women are worth less than men, or that there's a gap in the market?
  - gspetr 10y ago
    My point is the latter.
    - richmarr 10y ago
      Agree with you. A couple of examples of change in that area; Companies taking advantage by mothers who want to the workforce once their kids are in school by offering flexible working. Companies dropping their long-standing policies of hiring from specific schools or attainment levels. These policies are historically quite common in professional services firms, but heavily reduce the available talent pool (and thus the quality of hires, because schools and attainment levels are not strongly predictive of productivity).
      - gspetr 10y ago
        When we bring parenthood into the picture I think this is confounding the results that the studies should account for, but in too many cases, they do not. Then the mainstream media and people championing social justice causes often take these results the wrong way (even if they do so for noble reasons) and run with it too far. I think we should compare never married men to never married women, otherwise I believe it to be disingenuous to make that wage gap argument based on gender. Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell argues that economic differences between working men and women are not generally due to employer discrimination, as is widely alleged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EK6Y1X_xa4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EK6Y1X_xa4
        richmarr 10y ago
        >... confounding the results that the studies should account for... You're absolutely right that studies should make sure to control for potentially important variables. I don't know which studies you referring to. Not a topic I've looked at. That said, criticising a second group of studies can't reasonably cast shade over the first group, if that was your implication.