Communications of the ACM
We Know Diversity in Tech Is a Problem, but What Is the Solution?
Research suggests the persistence of hostile work environments in high-tech companies for women and people of color.
Credit: VentureBeat
David Porush, president and CEO of MentorNet, weighs in on how to increase diversity within the tech sector. Recent reports about the difficulties that young minorities face in launching new companies within Silicon Valley have only stoked the debate about how women and minorities are fighting for a place in fast-growth science and engineering-driven industries. At the same time, the U.S. needs hundreds of thousands of university-trained STEM graduates to enter the workforce in the next decade alone. One way to level the playing field for underrepresented groups is to build mentoring relationships that extend beyond age, culture and race.
As Porush explains, it's important to get the argument about diversity of talent right if the U.S. economy is to remain competitive. When it comes to diversity, there are essentially two different ideological camps. One holds that Silicon Valley is a purely race- and gender-blind market for talent, where the best and brightest people are rewarded. Anything that tampers with this free-market meritocracy, such as a kind of venture capital or high-tech corporate affirmative action, is expensive and inefficient. The other believes that biases in the culture and active discrimination prevent qualified women and minorities from entering the field and rising. These biases are the only way to explain the terribly low numbers from those groups among professionals in STEM generally and in Silicon Valley in particular.
Porush offers a third way: creating personal relationships throughout the tech sector. This third way comes with no broad assumptions or prejudices, it cuts through political attachments and it bears costs only in personal time and attention. On MentorNet, a large majority of the students awaiting a mentor match within science and technology are women, Hispanic and African-American candidates. Furthermore, across major tech, science and engineering firms, the demand for women and minorities has been huge — just as large as the desire of underrepresented groups to succeed in changing the world through STEM careers. Building a personal relationship involving deep communication and even mentorship across a wide, out-of-your-comfort-zone group of individuals is the first step in breaking down the lack of diversity in technology and other STEM fields.
From VentureBeat
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