equality
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Hitting the Books: AI could help shrink America's gender wage gap
In her new book, The Equality Machine, Dr. Orly Lobel explores how digital technologies -- often maligned for their roles in exacerbating societal ills -- can be harnessed to undo the damage they've caused.
'World of Warcraft: Dragonflight' won't use gendered language in its character generator
'World of Warcraft: Dragonflight' has ditched gendered language in its character creator.
Apple will build a learning hub in Atlanta as part of its racial equity pledge
Apple has shed more light on its $100 million pledge to improve racial equity. Today, the company announced that it will be making a $25 million contribution to the Propel Center, a learning hub designed for members of the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). It will include a physical campus at the Atlanta University Center, a virtual platform for remote learning and events at partner institutions’ campuses.
YouTube will 'amplify' Black creators with a $100 million fund
YouTube is creating a $100 million multi-year fund dedicated to Black creators, artists and their stories.
Intel meets some of its key diversity goals
Intel's diversity push still looks to be largely on track, and it's now hitting some of its most important milestones. The chip maker's newly published 2016 Diversity & Inclusion report reveals that Intel has met all of its pay and promotion equality goals in the US -- both women and underrepresented minority should have the same incomes and chances of advancement as anyone else. Intel also says it met its broader diverse retention goal, keeping a better-than-parity number of those underrepresented workers.
Pinterest lowers its goal for female engineer hires
Pinterest aimed to make itself a role model for diversity in tech in 2016, but the year didn't quite work out that way... and the company is setting its sights lower as a result. The social site reports that it increased the number of women in its workforce to 26 percent in 2016, but it only increased the ratio of engineers to 22 percent -- far short of the 30 percent it wanted. It's now aiming for 25 percent in 2017. While the team still wants to get to 30 percent, it says it's "likely going to take more than 12 months" to reach that goal.
Facebook and Microsoft confirm they have no gender pay gap
Tech companies may employ a smaller percentage of women than other US industries, but at least they pay them as well as men. Microsoft and Facebook marked "Equal Pay Day" (today) by confirming they had hit that milestone. "I'm proud to share that at Facebook, men and women earn the same," says Facebook VP Lori Matloff Goler. Microsoft VP Kathleen Hogan also declares that, "today, for every $1 earned by men, our female employees in the U.S. earn 99.8 cents at the same job title and level."
Amazon says it pays men and women equally
Over the last week, Amazon has been resisting pressure from investors and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to show gender pay statistics. However, it has now relented and revealed that women are effectively paid the same (99.9 percent) as men. In addition, it found the minority salaries are on par with white staffers doing the same work. The company's diversity page shows that women make up 39 percent of the workforce, but hold just 24 percent of management positions. Those figures are above the norm for the technology industry, but well off the national average.
Panasonic pushes same-sex equality in Japan
Panasonic has revealed that it will recognize its employees' same-sex relationships from the start of April. The announcement was timed to coincide with the news that a third Japanese municipality will do the same -- it's the first area outside of Tokyo. You may be wondering why Panasonic's decision is newsworthy, but it's a groundbreaking move in Japan's socially conservative society. The firm is a large and respected player in the business community, and its decision could cause other tech outfits to follow suit.
Twitter slammed for hiring Apple's (white) head of diversity
Twitter is one of the Silicon Valley companies most criticized for a lack of diversity, and its latest hire isn't helping that image. The company recently announced that Jeffrey Siminoff will replace Janet Van Huysse as vice president of diversity and inclusion. Siminoff, who is white and male, was previously Apple's head of diversity and is a strong promoter of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. However, the move was criticized by diversity proponents like Mark S. Luckie, who didn't take issue with Siminoff himself, but rather the decision. "Not saying a white guy can't be head of diversity, but for a company that hires a majority white guys [sic] it sends the wrong message," he tweeted.
Computer Science is the most popular major for women at Stanford
Stanford reportedly has 214 female students enrolled in its Computer Science major -- that's 30 percent of the major's total enrollment -- making it the most popular major with women at the university for the first time. Women constitute 49 percent of the school's total student body and Computer Science accounts for 20 percent of the university's total enrollment. Computer Science did just barely eke out the previous title-holder, human biology, for the top spot by a mere six students.
Mozilla to fire suspected employee posting hate speech on Reddit
Mozilla is showing an even stronger commitment to a diverse workplace, thanks to a new pledge by its CEO to fire an "employee" who feels otherwise. In a project meeting, Chris Beard called out a Reddit user by the name of aoiyama who claims to work for the firm, saying that their use of hate speech will not be tolerated. The individual has expressed delight in the recent departure of Christie Koehler, saying that "everyone was glad to see the back" of the firm's community organizer. The user then added that "when she and the rest of her blue-haired, nose-pierced asshole feminists are gone, the tech industry will breathe a sigh of relief."
Nintendo includes same-sex marriages in 'Fire Emblem Fates'
Nintendo has a rocky past when it comes to same-sex relationships in its games, but the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates for its 3DS handheld should change that. There are a few different options to choose from, as Polygon reports. If you want to play as a male character who can marry a male party member, you should grab the Conquest edition of Fates. And if you want to be a female warrior who weds another lady, then the Birthright edition is the one for you. There's also a third downloadable storyline that'll let you do both. The marriages don't come easy from the sounds of it, either: you need to bond with your partner in battle before you can tie the knot.
Uber wants 1 million women as drivers by 2020
To put it mildly, Uber's reputation for supporting women is less than stellar -- it's not hard to find women who refuse to be passengers, let alone drivers. However, the ridesharing service just took a significant step toward gender equality: as part of a collaboration with the United Nations, it's vowing to create 1 million jobs for women as Uber drivers by 2020. Just how it'll accomplish this isn't mentioned, but the hope is that the initiative will give women economic power they won't otherwise have. Uber is promising updates on its progress, so you'll likely know how well it's doing well before those five years are up.
EA once again earns perfect score in LGBT workplace equality
Eight months after losing the dubious title of 'Worst Company in America' for the first time in three years, Human Rights Campaign has recognized EA for its commitment to promoting LGBT equality by awarding the publisher a 100 percent score in its latest Corporate Equality Index. This marks the third consecutive year in which EA has earned a perfect score. EA cites an expanded presence at numerous Pride Parades throughout the past year as well as its long-running commitment to barring any sort of discrimination from its offices as key to being recognized by the HRC for a third straight year. "We are very honored to be recognized again as a 'Best Place to Work'," said EA's head of diversity and inclusion Andre Chambers. "We believe that fostering an inclusive environment helps us to create great games, and represent our diverse set of players and I'm proud to work at a company that has strong employee values." [Image: EA]
Tim Cook speaks out about Alabama's slow progress on LGBT rights
Over the last year Apple CEO Tim Cook has been ramping up his personal activism for LGBT causes, both in private and with the company. The trend continued today in a speech in Alabama, at the state capital during the Alabama Academy of Honor event. Cook called for his home state to learn from the civil rights movement when thinking of LGBT issues. I could never understand why some within our state and nation resisted basic principles of human dignity that were so opposite to the values I had learned growing up in Robertsdale, Alabama in a family that was rich in love and respect. Cook pointed out Alabama's slow acceptance of civil rights for African-American citizens, and begged them not to follow the same path with regards to civil rights for the LGBT community. We were too slow on equality on African-Americans. We were too slow on interracial marriage. And we are still too slow on equality for the LBGT community. Cook then pointed out that beyond Alabama's stance on marriage equality, the state is one of the few left in the nation where someone can be fired simply for their sexual orientation. Currently there are only 18 states without marriage equality for citizens. The speech went onto address the importance of access to education for all children, regardless of economic background, referencing education as a fundamental human right. In the past year Apple has pledged to donate US$750 million worth of iPads, computers, and other technology to President Obama's ConnectedED education program. The initiative aims to bring high-speed broadband to 99% of the schools across the United States. You can read about where Apple's money is going here, including which 114 schools across 29 states will benefit from the funds. Here's the video of Cook's remarks:
Google will pay for coding lessons for thousands of female tech workers
We know the stats by now, and they're grim: women hold just a quarter of IT jobs, and they make up a mere 18 percent of recent computer science graduates. At this year's I/O, Google has announced a new program that, it hopes, will do something to correct this imbalance. It's going to pay for "thousands" of female tech workers to discover basic coding through self-learning courses, presumably in the hope that this will advance their careers and turn them into better mentors and role models for youngsters.
Five must craft neutral Hearthstone cards
There are a lot of cards in Hearthstone. It can be difficult to know which ones to craft with your hard earned dust, especially in the beginning. Do you save up for a legendary or try and craft more accessible cards in order to build up decent library? I mentioned it before, but I think the best option is grabbing up the basics, specifically cards that hold value across multiple decks. There's no ranking behind these cards, so grab them up in whatever order you see fit. All of them have strengths and weaknesses, which we'll discuss below.
Mozilla CEO steps down due to political backlash
After a slew of criticism and increased scrutiny over his donations to an anti gay-marriage bill in California, Mozilla's newly appointed CEO Brendan Eich has stepped down. The company recently published a blog post that read, "Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn't live up to it." This is despite many assertions Eich has made in several interviews in the past week that he would not resign, even though multiple employees have come forward on Twitter and elsewhere asking him to leave. Popular dating site OkCupid also made its opinions clear by refusing Firefox users access to its website for a short period. In an interview with Re/Code, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker said that Eich's ability to lead has been compromised due to the increased scrutiny over the issue. She also told the publication that Eich's decision to resign was his own and not due to any pressure from her or the board. There is currently no leading candidate to replace Eich, though efforts to seek one are underway. Update: Eich has written a post on his blog announcing his departure.
Political backlash against Mozilla's new CEO continues as OkCupid suggests browser alternatives (update)
Last week Mozilla appointed former CTO Brendan Eich as its new CEO, but the response to that move has centered on something other than its focus on mobile. In 2008 Eich donated $1,000 to support Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage in California, and as a result a number of employees have called for him to step down. Today that protest extended to other websites, as The Verge points out Firefox users visiting the dating site OkCupid are greeted with the page shown above, saying it would "prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid." At the bottom it includes links to Google Chrome, Internet Exploder (natch), Opera and Safari as friendlier alternatives, above a link for users to bypass the page and continue browsing with Firefox. Since Eich's appointment, Mozilla has posted several statements about its support for diversity, inclusiveness and marriage equality for LGBT couples, including one penned by the CEO himself. Three board members have also resigned from the foundation, although it says that's not related to the CEO choice. Mozilla says that OkCupid never reached out to it to "confirm facts" (the full statement from a spokesperson is included below) but so far is sticking to its previous responses -- we'll see if Eich's request for "the time to "show, not tell" is granted. Update (4/2): CNET mentions that OkCupid has removed the notice, and the company says it plans to issue a statement "in the next few days."
