"For women of color, the cumulative effect of these slights is compounded by a striking lack of racial diversity—and all that attends it. " Silicon Valley has

"For women of color, the cumulative effect of these slights is compounded by a striking lack of racial diversity—and all that attends it. " Silicon Valley has plenty of racial diversity. Something approaching half of the workforce is east- or south Asian. And even the whites are a pretty diverse bunch, with many immigrants from Europe, whether eastern or western. But I guess that just isn't the kind of diversity the US left loves to bitch about. In my view, people who want to worry about fairness in hiring in this industry should spend most of their time worrying about the women. That's a large group, and the shortfall in hiring is very clear; we are hiring about a third of the women we would be hiring at parity. And since it's a large group, anything done to move the needle there will have a big effect: double the hiring of women, and you've changed 15% of the workforce, double the hiring of blacks, and you've changed 2% or so. And if there's any time left over after dealing with the women, it might be worth taking a hard look at our socioeconomic inclusiveness. The prestigious colleges we love to recruit from cater disproportionately to the children of the well-to-do. I doubt we do enough to look for talent in the community colleges and state schools, which is where the children of the poor disproportionately end up.