While there has been a lot of technological diversity and cross pollination of multi-disciplinary fields there has been much less diversity in the people who are driving it forward.
It turns out that a workplace's diversity is among the most important predictors of a business' sales revenue. According to a McKinsey analysis gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to out perform non gender-diverse companies. And ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to out perform non ethnically diverse companies.
While it may make business sense to have ethnic and gender diversity, the lack of it in tech has been an issue that has taken front stage recently with many initiatives springing up to address it. Each one tacking it from a different perspective.
Some examples of this include, the Join Fund Club which features a new project, initiative, event or organization focused on diverse communities in technology and you can choose to support which everyone you want. If you are a marginalized person in Tech you can apply to be featured.
/dev/color is an independent non-profit organization that aims to maximize the success of Black software engineers though their community. And the Diversity in Tech Awards tries to encourage positive awareness for diversity.
As for gender, according to a gender diversity study in Fortune Magazine conducted among top tech companies, the leading companies did not always have an equal representation of the genders.
Here are the rounded figures from this report, from most female representation to least: Airbnb (48% female), eBay (42% female), LinkedIn (38% female), Hewlett-Packard (33% female), Facebook (29% female), Google (28% female), Cisco (27% female), Microsoft (24% female), Intel (24% female). These figures make the under representation of women very clear.
There are some initiatives trying to tackle the under representation of women, one such initiative is Google's Women Tech Makers which provides visibility, community, and resources for women in technology. And Girls who Code which offers computer science education to girls, they reach 1 million young women by 2020.
The non-profit Digital NEST wants to make sure that young individuals of all backgrounds are involved in tech. NEST stands for Nurturing Entrepreneurial Skills with Technology, and they do just that by offering high-tech training to youth and adults from 12-24 with free access to computers, software, Wi-Fi, and a full range of state-of-the-art digital tools and classes.
When it comes to diversity in leadership or public facing roles, that is easier for us to gauge. As we can see it with our own eyes, weather it is the c-suite of a company, a spokesperson, or even media representations.
In the gaming industry there is also a lack of diversity in the characters and their racial and cultural backgrounds. In this episode we talk to the "I Need Diverse Games" (@INeedDivGms) initiative on the diversity challenges in the gaming industry.
As the gaming industry evolves with disruptive technology and introduces augmented reality, and 3D holographic teleportation also called "Holoportaion", among other things, it will be all the more important to make sure that the audiences the games are trying to reach are just as diverse as the characters in their games.
Listen to podcast on SoundCloud here or on iTunes.
Given this episode's theme, I'll leave you with the following food for thought questions:
1. Given the lack of diversity in tech, what do you think would be the best approach to improve it?
2. Should some sort of tech diversity affirmative action be imposed through legislative action?
3. What corporate policies can be put in place to ensure that there is diversity at all levels of an organization?
---
I Need Diverse Games Recommends the following games that have diversity in characters:
Tomb Raider Reboot (2013)
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Mirror's Edge
Assassin's Creed:Syndicate
Portal
Dragon Age series
Mass Effect Series
Fallout 4
Transistor
This War of Mine (emotionally rough)
Assassin's Creed: Liberation
Remember Me
Journey
Gone Home