Google Engineer Fired For Sexist Memo
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LOS ANGELES (CBSMiami) - A ten-page manifesto written by a Google engineer has put diversity and sexism back a the forefront in Silicon Valley.
The author of the controversial memo titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," software engineer James Damore, was fired Monday night.
He said he released the document hoping to start an honest discussion on diversity at the internet giant where only 20-percent of the tech workers are women.
Damore's 3000-word document suggested the reason why. He wrote that "biological causes" may explain why there wasn't equal representation. Damore also claimed that "Men have a higher drive for status" and "Women, on average, have more neuroticism" which may contribute "to the lower number of women in high-stress jobs."
Damore's internal manifesto went viral inside the company and sparked outrage and reaction from tech workers and former Google employees, like engineer Erica Baker, who worked there for nine years.
"I experienced some amount of micro aggressions that were happening around me and some major aggressions at Google as well," said Baker.
Late Monday night, Google's CEO tweeted a statement to their employees which read in part, ",, to suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited is offensive and not OK."
