For affirmative action in technology
Article originally published in March 2018
It seems to me that there’s a lot of talk about affirmative action in the tech industry lately. I feel like tackling this topic by asking this question: could positive discrimination contribute to more representation of diversity in technology?
Positive discrimination means favoring a group of people on a temporary basis until a balance is achieved. We’re naturally attracted by what we know. It’s called unconscious bias. In the world of work, this means we recruit people who look like us. As the workforce in science, technology, computing and mathematics is dominated by men, there’s a very good chance they’ll recruit men too. Positive discrimination aims to break this trend.
With the adoption of the Copé-Zimmermann law in 2011, France decided to oblige major French listed companies to have a board of directors with at least 40% women by 2017. These companies met the target on time. By contrast, for those not listed on the stock exchange, the ratio of women reached 15%. The proof is that without a quota, the natural evolution towards parity does not take place.
Another example comes from Australia. At the end of 2017, an Australian university decided to only accept applications from women for a position in its mathematics department. It’s not the first time the university has done this. The year before, three professorships were open only to women.
The introduction of quotas is forcing companies to rethink the promotion of their employees and to question themselves. “The idea behind quotas for women is to force companies to ask themselves which competent women on their team have not yet been promoted,” explains Anne Thévenet-Abitbol, founder of Eve, a women’s leadership training program being offered in France.
If we assume that women are neither less intelligent nor less educated than men, we can conclude that there is a pool of candidates for the same job. So why not give them all the same opportunities? That’s what Shadia Saba, a Thai startup founder, thinks. “There are a million people with the same qualities, the same business skills,” she says. So, if they’re all smart, it’s better to hire 50 women and 50 men, rather than 100 men and one woman.”
The London School of Economics found that gender quotas do not harm the overall quality of workers in a group. In fact, they have the effect of pushing out men who deliver mediocre work. Ultimately, positive gender discrimination doesn’t mean that companies hire incompetent employees. It means that they correct the social discrimination factors that prevent competent women from attaining the desired positions in the technology industry.
Positive discrimination is often used as a temporary tool to bring about a fairer situation. Dr. Sue Black OBE, Techmums founder and professor, explains that the advantages of quotas outweigh the disadvantages. “When I was younger, I thought quotas were a bad idea, but the older I get, the more I think we need something like quotas to be able to really change,” she mentions. Then, when we have more diverse boards, we won’t need quotas anymore, because everyone will have understood the benefits of diversity.”
If these arguments make your hair stand on end, great! Hang in there until next week, when I’ll present the arguments against positive discrimination.
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- For affirmative action in technology - 30 June 2020