5 ms·

I worked for a company that hired 4 trans women (out of 7 people total) during a "diversity hiring" push, then touted the diversity of the hires. All of the tra

I worked for a company that hired 4 trans women (out of 7 people total) during a "diversity hiring" push, then touted the diversity of the hires. All of the trans women had been raised and had gone through university as white men, earning comp sci degrees, before transitioning in their mid- to late-twenties. While I do not debate that those individuals represent a type of diversity in the current company makeup, it always struck me that they likely received the same privileges that most white males do in technical degree programs. As competent programmers, I'm glad they found good jobs. Did they represent diversity hires? I still wonder how HR departments take this into consideration when pushing for diversity.

cwkoss 5y ago
I think meaning of the term diversity is often twisted into a binary outcome. If a company is 65% white and 35% Chinese is that more diverse than a company that is 70% white, 10% Chinese, 10% Indian, and 10% Vietnamese? Often, the above two examples would be flattened to just 35% or 30% Asian. But even my example is very reductive - China, for example, has many dozens of ethnic groups. I think 'diversity' is a very hard thing to quantify, which makes it more difficult to measure the effectiveness of initiatives to increase diversity. Can anyone point me towards better methods of measuring diversity? If society or a particular organization wishes to increase diversity, it seems important to be able to measure it with more nuance.
- jbay808 5y ago
  > Can anyone point me towards better methods of measuring diversity? It depends on what you want to achieve, but for companies, the goal is probably diversity of belief, opinion, culture, and experience. That way you can have a good spread of ideas and increase your odds of being able to understand your customers (who are probably also diverse). So you could run anonymized surveys of your staff asking things like "have you ever changed a baby's diaper", "do you play any instruments", "do you speak the same language at home as your grandparents do", "if you could only have one carbohydrate would you choose rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes", etc, and then measure the entropy of the responses.
jbay808 5y ago
> it always struck me that they likely received the same privileges that most white males do in technical degree programs. They also completed those degrees while going through a very intense personal and medical struggle that likely added significant challenges that very few others have faced or would even be aware of.

cwkoss 5y ago

I think meaning of the term diversity is often twisted into a binary outcome. If a company is 65% white and 35% Chinese is that more diverse than a company that is 70% white, 10% Chinese, 10% Indian, and 10% Vietnamese? Often, the above two examples would be flattened to just 35% or 30% Asian. But even my example is very reductive - China, for example, has many dozens of ethnic groups. I think 'diversity' is a very hard thing to quantify, which makes it more difficult to measure the effectiveness of initiatives to increase diversity. Can anyone point me towards better methods of measuring diversity? If society or a particular organization wishes to increase diversity, it seems important to be able to measure it with more nuance.

jbay808 5y ago
> Can anyone point me towards better methods of measuring diversity? It depends on what you want to achieve, but for companies, the goal is probably diversity of belief, opinion, culture, and experience. That way you can have a good spread of ideas and increase your odds of being able to understand your customers (who are probably also diverse). So you could run anonymized surveys of your staff asking things like "have you ever changed a baby's diaper", "do you play any instruments", "do you speak the same language at home as your grandparents do", "if you could only have one carbohydrate would you choose rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes", etc, and then measure the entropy of the responses.

jbay808 5y ago

> it always struck me that they likely received the same privileges that most white males do in technical degree programs. They also completed those degrees while going through a very intense personal and medical struggle that likely added significant challenges that very few others have faced or would even be aware of.