The Google engineer that got the boot for writing a memo stating that biological differences may explain why there are so few female software engineers says there was a “concerted effort” within the company’s top ranks to convince him that writing the memo was wrong.
James Damore defended his stance on gender differences and company culture Wednesday on Bloomberg. He thinks that other people in Google’s leadership agree with him, but they’re too afraid they may be losing their jobs too for speaking out.
Damore underlined that he first shared the controversial memo with his colleagues a month ago, but the company fired him after it went viral. He noted that no manager or PR person came up to him to tell him that sharing the memo was wrong even though there were many people within the company that saw the memo.
“It was only after it got viral that upper management started shaming me and eventually firing me,”
the former software engineer told Bloomberg Television.
He thinks that it would be “career suicide” for any Google executive to stand up for him and support him. Lower-ranking employees that voiced support for him received warnings from the human resources.
Google’s Reaction
A Google spokesperson denied Damore’s accusations but refused to comment beyond an official statement given by Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai Monday. Susan Wojcicki who leads Google’s YouTube division said the memo caused her pain. She wondered if Damore would say the same thing about racial minorities working in the tech industry.
Wojcicki who leads Google’s YouTube division said the memo caused her pain. She wondered if Damore would say the same thing about racial minorities working in the tech industry. Damore replied by saying that Wojcicki’s analogy is “false” and an another attempt to smear him instead of bringing evidence.
The engineer worked for the web search giant for more than four years and was terminated this Monday. Before working for Google, he was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Princeton University.
Image Source: Flickr
Share this:
