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> Gusto's women-only recruiting effort lasted six months. It stopped, Kim says, because "we exceeded our goals." In 2015 Gusto was trying to hit 18% women engin

> Gusto's women-only recruiting effort lasted six months. It stopped, Kim says, because "we exceeded our goals." In 2015 Gusto was trying to hit 18% women engineers, the proportion majoring in computer science as undergraduates, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and it reached 21%. This is a bit disappointing. It reminds me of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's answer to "how many women on the Supreme Court would be enough?" "When there are nine." Men have been in a position of disproportionate power for so long it's unimaginable to be on the other end of the spectrum, but shooting for 18% representation of women will only uphold the current gender iniquities. They should have aimed higher.

ralusek 9y ago
If they hired more than the proportion with which they were graduating or even available at, that would not make any sense whatsoever, and might not even be numerically possible...
- faitswulff 9y ago
  They state in the article that they exceeded it.
Nadya 9y ago
Aiming for a 50/50 split is unreasonable until the entire pipeline is evenly 50/50 split which is unreasonable because it will eventually boil down to birth rates which skews male [0]. Imagine you run a pet clinic in a town of 5,125 people. Population: 2,500 women and 2,625 men. Of those 5,125 people - six of them have gone to school and became veterinarians. You're looking to hire four veterinarians to staff your pet clinic. You'd like to equally hire two men and two women. Five of the six local graduates are female and the only male graduate doesn't meet the qualifications you are looking for. You cannot afford or cannot find two male veterinarians who are willing to relocate to your small town and work at your clinic. In the end, you hire an entire female staff. Not because you're sexist - but because you simply can't. You don't have the funds necessary to bribe two men to move to a small town to work for your pet clinic. [0] http://www.searo.who.int/entity/health_situation_trends/data/chi/sex-ratio/en/ http://www.searo.who.int/entity/health_situation_trends/data...

ralusek 9y ago

If they hired more than the proportion with which they were graduating or even available at, that would not make any sense whatsoever, and might not even be numerically possible...

faitswulff 9y ago
They state in the article that they exceeded it.

Nadya 9y ago

Aiming for a 50/50 split is unreasonable until the entire pipeline is evenly 50/50 split which is unreasonable because it will eventually boil down to birth rates which skews male [0]. Imagine you run a pet clinic in a town of 5,125 people. Population: 2,500 women and 2,625 men. Of those 5,125 people - six of them have gone to school and became veterinarians. You're looking to hire four veterinarians to staff your pet clinic. You'd like to equally hire two men and two women. Five of the six local graduates are female and the only male graduate doesn't meet the qualifications you are looking for. You cannot afford or cannot find two male veterinarians who are willing to relocate to your small town and work at your clinic. In the end, you hire an entire female staff. Not because you're sexist - but because you simply can't. You don't have the funds necessary to bribe two men to move to a small town to work for your pet clinic. [0] http://www.searo.who.int/entity/health_situation_trends/data/chi/sex-ratio/en/ http://www.searo.who.int/entity/health_situation_trends/data...