Apple launching tech camps for women in bid to diversify industry
Like other major tech companies, Apple has been trying to lessen its dependence on men in high-paying programming jobs.
I don’t think “dependence” is the right word there. Is that dependence like alcohol dependence, or like dependence on foreign oil?
It’s an oblique way of saying “we’re trying to employ fewer men,” but explicitly singling out members of a certain group for unwelcome attention sounds discriminatory and possibly illegal.
Women filled just 23 percent of Apple’s technology jobs in 2017, according to the company’s latest breakdown.
“Just” — why do we assume that working at Apple is a goal that a lot of women have? Maybe women found better jobs? Or something else they’d rather be doing?
Industry critics have accused the technology companies of discriminating against women through a male-dominated hierarchy that has ruled the industry for decades.
I’m more inclined to think that if women wanted to work in technology in greater numbers, they’d be doing so.
I’ve noticed recently that when President Trump says something, the media report it, but they’ve started following it up with a caveat along the lines of “He offered no evidence to support his claims.”
Now there’s a phrase you could use all day long! “Industry critics have accused technology companies of discriminating against women. They offered no evidence to support their claims.”
The fact that men outnumber women — or the other way around — in a profession is not evidence of discrimination. It may be evidence that women have more of a preference for “helping professions” — healthcare, social work, teaching, counseling, in all of which women significantly outnumber men — and men have more of a preference for technology.
It’s the simplest available explanation. That doesn’t mean it has to be right, but I think it is.
Thus spoke The Programmer.