Google has recently released data that reveals that only 17 percent of its technology workforce consists of women workers. Google is putting its foot down so that the percentage of women workforce in the technology department increases in the near term.
On Wednesday, May 28, Google released a diversity report that shows several aspects of the company's workforce. The company also indicates that around 70 percent of its total workforce is men.
Overall, 30 percent of the company's employees are women and the non-technology departments constitute 48 percent of women workers.
The report shows that 60 percent of the technology department is made of white employees, 34 percent of Asians and the rest is composed of Blacks, Hispanics and other races. The story is somewhat similar when it comes to the overall workforce of the company with 61 percent of the total Google employees are whites, 30 percent are Asians and the rest Black, Hispanics and other races.
Google says that it is already working to attract people of various colors and women to join the organization. However, the company also points out data from a 2012 National Science Foundation (NSF) report, which indicates the difficulties in hiring women and non-white people. The NSF report highlights that less than 10 percent of U.S. college graduates are Blacks or Hispanics. Moreover, they get under 5 percent of degrees in CS majors. The NSF report also suggests that only 18 percent of all computer science degrees are awarded to women in the U.S.
"But we're the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be-and that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution," per Laszlo Bock, Senior Vice President, People Operations.
Google claims that since 2010, the company has contributed around $40 million to various organizations that are promoting computer science education to girls and women. The company is also working with "historically black colleges and universities" to lift up coursework as well as attendance in computer science classes. Google engineer Charles Pratt also visited Howard University and revamped the "school's Intro to CS curriculum."
Google says that previously it has been reluctant to release the company's diversity information. However, Google feels that it was wrong and now it's time to be "candid about the issues."
