Translated material
Google fires employee for manifesto about biological differences between sexes
The reason for leaving was “strengthening gender stereotypes.”
Google fired technologist James Damore days after he said there were few women in the tech industry due to biological differences from men. His name was not previously disclosed. This was reported by Reuters , Bloomberg and the BBC .
The corporation did not officially confirm the engineer’s dismissal, explaining that “they do not comment on the situation with individual employees.” At the same time, Damore told a number of publications that Google asked him to leave because of “perpetuating gender stereotypes.”
The engineer "began exploring every possible remedy." At the same time, Damore, even before his dismissal, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Google management of trying to “silence” his manifesto.
As Reuters noted, it is not yet known which rule of law Damore will appeal to, since many technical employees are not unionized and, according to contracts, can be fired for a “wide range of reasons” not directly related to performance criteria.
The media obtained a letter from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, which was distributed among company staff on August 7. Pichai said parts of Damore's statement violated the Employee Code of Conduct and "crossed the line into promoting harmful gender stereotypes in the workplace."
On August 4, Damore circulated an internal memo entitled " Google's Ideological Echo Chamber ", recommending that the company abandon its "diversity" policy and stop respecting gender proportions at the expense of ability. According to the engineer, women are underrepresented in the technology industry not because of discrimination, but because of biological differences from men. “Gender differences do not necessarily imply sexism,” the letter’s author emphasized.
The manifesto became known after reviews from some Google employees on social networks. According to a number of American media outlets, Damore's statement gained “viral popularity” within the company and became the main topic of discussion among staff. Most of his colleagues, according to Motherboard, “ridiculed” the letter, but some still supported the engineer. Google has publicly opposed Damore's views.
The corporation's latest report showed that men make up 69% of the workforce. 56% of employees are white. In leadership positions at Google there are 25% women, among engineers and programmers - 20%.