Apple Releases New Diversity Numbers, Hired Over 11,000 Women in Past Year

[peterdevries]

That's why I think Apple made the Watch fashion piece. Apple has already had their hit product and still sell it. I only think we will see another massive change IF the company starts to fall.

Hmm, this has more to do with the fact that the mobile computing market is maturing and that there is not a lot of room for new product categories. The directions are not ultraportable (wearables) and differentiating into adjacent markets such as medical. I see Apple doing both and moving more towards medical as regulatory requirements for medical devices have also become easier to adhere to.

 

[Renzatic]

That's why I think Apple made the Watch fashion piece. Apple has already had their hit product and still sell it. I only think we will see another massive change IF the company starts to fall.

Exactly. Yeah, the Apple Watch is neat, but it's not an earth shattering industry shakeup. It's a product designed as an accessory for a now very well established, once industry shaking product line. It was never meant to buck any trends, just expand upon what Apple already has.

In short, it's reliance on the iPhone, and Apple's reticence to cannibalize that money cow, is the very reason why it won't ever be the next iPhone.

...but a company that doesn't have an iPhone to fall back on? They'll be the ones more likely to come out with the Next Big Thing.

 

[66318]

I submit that it's detrimental because identity politics is perceived as a legitimate substitute for real economic left policies that would benefit the entire working class.

The true class divide in America is an economic class divide, not racial, gender or sexual identity.

Ahh, I see, thank you for expanding, the perspective helps. Heres the reality of the situation. There is more then one divide in this country. There is indeed an economic class divide and it's getting worse with the middle class shrinking rapidly.

There is still a massive racial divide as well. It's not as codified into our laws like it was pre civil rights, but the traces of it were not fully eliminated, especially in the application of the law. Take for example drug incarceration rates and felony charges. Drug usage as a percentage of the respective populations of white and black americans is about the same. But yet incarceration and felony charges are 6 times higher for the black community.

How does the above factor into the economic and work side? Well, it's much more difficult to have a stable work career with a felony. People serve their time in jail, but yet society doesn't treat them as if they have paid back their debt from their crimes. Thus the black community who may have made mistakes in their youth are 6 times more likely to be held back.

Trying to address these issues as if the problem is equally shared by everyone won't lead to equal results that benefit everyone. This stuff didn't reveal it's self to me until I stopped talking and started listening more. I encourage you to do the same. Bernie Sanders is doing this well, taking the interruption in Seattle to heart and actually listening more. He's shifted his message and goals as a response.

Here's a great article to read and listen to on this subject: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/opinions/van-jones-bernie-sanders-disrupted/index.html

 

[greytmom]

Why is everyone assuming that Apple's efforts to promote diversity means that they aren't hiring the most qualified person for each job?

 

[Populism]

I wouldn't say that at all. You can't prove it's not true either, so it works both ways. How many women make up Apple's work force isn't really the issue I was addressing anyway. If the 11k women they hired were the best qualified candidates, than great. In my mind, the fact that they made a conscious decision to do something means that they were either NOT hiring the best qualified candidates before or they are NOT hiring the best qualified candidates now - otherwise this would not ever have come up.

I like the way you quantify this. Either Apple was hiring the best candidates before the implemented changes, or they are hiring the best candidates now.

I wonder which it is. I hope it's the latter - that they are moving away from bad hiring practices.

 

[CFreymarc]

Be careful what you wish for, even if sarcastically. Some men have already sued Hooters for the right to be "servers" there.

... and they have lost as the "Hooters girls" are not employees but are classified as models. They have the entire fashon industry to back this up. Their annual bikini contests keep the status of a model consistent.

 

[AustinIllini]

Why is everyone assuming that Apple's efforts to promote diversity means that they aren't hiring the most qualified person for each job?

Because conservative.

 

[iceperson]

Historically speaking diversity has always been the foundation that undergirds our evolution as people.

Racial diversity is entirely superficial though, anyone who thinks otherwise is by definition a racist...

 

[CFreymarc]

Why is everyone assuming that Apple's efforts to promote diversity means that they aren't hiring the most qualified person for each job?

Issue is that you place anything ahead of merit in a hiring situation, performance and quality will suffer. Due to affirmative action over the last thirty five years, there is a "passed over" generation of white males who's career have suffered and have become the backbone of entrepreneur scenes in many industries. Now these white males are back on top by starting their own company and are the political force to end affirmative action.

The theory is that promoting and hiring minorities will create equality. Unfortunately, it does not address the "victim culture" of various minority groups where their culture does not encourage individual nor professional growth. Typically a minority leader only benefits. When their "leadership of victims" status is in jeopardy, some minority group leaders have actually created false flag events claiming attacks on their ethnicity to keep their leadership position.

 

[iceperson]

Why is everyone assuming that Apple's efforts to promote diversity means that they aren't hiring the most qualified person for each job?

Why does everyone assume that an industry that doesn't perfectly mirror society racial and gender diversity is proof of discrimination which needs addressing?

 

[jasonklee]

How come Apple will provide stats on gender and ethnicity but not sexual orientation? Why should companies have to disclose one but not the other? And how come on the one hand liberals want to rid the world of gender/sex but on the other hand proudly disclose diversity stats that break out workforce by gender? What about people who don't identify as male or female? Are they not counted?

My god this is so stupid and the kind of PC nonsense Steve Jobs would never have engaged in.

Not so fast, Rog. A certain sect of liberals want to make color blindness a micro-aggresion on university campuses: "I don't see color," "There is only the human race," "I don't believe in race," "America is a melting pot," and if you can believe it "I judge people on their content of character, not color."

But I tend to think of this as a recruitment tactic—even if it's just Tim Cook fulfilling his liberal ideology. Apple's present and future depends on hiring and cultivating the best talent so they need to cast their net far beyond the white male demographic, and people outside that demographic who might be interested in a career in Silicon Valley will know where they and their talent will be welcomed.

 

[philosopherdog]

What about ageism in tech? I wonder how many people over 50 they're hiring? A lot of this group are also the most skilled. So this is real discrimination.

 

[Happybunny]

Issue is that you place anything ahead of merit in a hiring situation, performance and quality will suffer. Due to affirmative action over the last thirty five years, there is a "passed over" generation of white males who's career have suffered and have become the backbone of entrepreneur scenes in many industries. Now these white males are back on top by starting their own company and are the political force to end affirmative action.

The theory is that promoting and hiring minorities will create equality. Unfortunately, it does not address the "victim culture" of various minority groups where their culture does not encourage individual nor professional growth. Typically a minority leader only benefits. When their "leadership of victims" status is in jeopardy, some minority group leaders have actually created false flag events claiming attacks on their ethnicity to keep their leadership position.

Forgive me but your whole post comes across as a rant about white male victim culture.

 

[Renzatic]

Forgive me but your whole post comes across as a rant about white male victim culture.

They might be taking our jobs today. But tomorrow? Oh, they're coming for our wangs. Mark my words. They will try to steal our wangs.

 

[imageWIS]

When will Apple hire white males?!? WHEN?!?!?!

 

[Happybunny]

They might be taking our jobs today. But tomorrow? Oh, they're coming for our wangs. Mark my words. They will try to steal our wangs.

I have absolutely no idea what a wang is?

But I bet it's something to do with CRACKERS knowing you.

 

[richpjr]

One thing you're not taking into account is that the tech industry has been a traditionally male drive one, and that trend has continued simply because that's probably what people are used to. They might hire Bob over Betty because Bob seems more like the usual tech type, and thus a better fit for the company, despite the fact that Betty is just as well versed in the field as he is. This recent push might be an attempt to buck that trend, provided all other things are equal.

The think that gets to me is that so many people are automatically assuming the worst when it comes to this. Like there aren't 11,000 qualified women out in the workforce to fill those roles, so someone better HAD to be shuffled off in order to fill some PC diversity BS quota. Yeah, it's true that we don't know what Apple's criteria was with hiring all these women. Now this may very well have been the case, but with more women getting into tech and STEM fields, why take the negative stance as a default?

It's not a trend, it's reality. The last numbers I saw were from 2010, but women comprised 18.1% of the computer science degrees and 18.3% of the engineering degrees from colleges and universities in the US. I don't know what the 11k women were hired to do, but at a company like Apple it's reasonable to assume that a significant percentage of them fall into those categories. So I'll repeat my point - if there were the best qualified candidates, great. But I am skeptical, simply because of the numbers. People can't be surprised if men dominate the IT field when women receive less than 20% of the degrees. If they received 50% of the degrees in that field it would be a different story.

 

[Renzatic]

I have absolutely no idea what a wang is?

But I bet it's something to do with CRACKERS knowing you.

Think Vienna Sausages that go in a saltine.

BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS...

You know, if I were to sum up this thread in a single sentence based upon how I see it, it'd be this...

A bunch of people who probably haven't been greatly inconvenienced in their lives are reading about a new trend that could theoretically pose an inconvenience to them, and are now reacting to as if they've been greatly inconvenienced.

 

[Happybunny]

You know, if I were to sum up this thread in a single sentence based upon how I see it, it'd be this...

A bunch of people who probably haven't been greatly inconvenienced in their lives are reading about a new trend that could theoretically pose an inconvenience to them, and are now reacting to as if they've been greatly inconvenienced.

I know right, the same people who would say, "You need to grow a pair".
But if these same people see a little bit of their power or privilege taken away, go into a complete hissy fit.

 

[CFreymarc]

Forgive me but your whole post comes across as a rant about white male victim culture.

Classic reflection. I know many who have survived being passed over for promotion and advancement due to an agenda that placed merit as secondary.

 

[CFreymarc]

What about ageism in tech? I wonder how many people over 50 they're hiring? A lot of this group are also the most skilled. So this is real discrimination.

Technology is an up or out business. While ageism has always been an issue in tech, the argument of senior employees not adapting to new technologies and methodologies is quite valid.

I have first hand experience working with those claiming "twenty years of experience" where the whole development group is bogged down handling arguments and objections to new paradigms.

The worst I encountered was from one old school mainframe software developer who totally refused to use a mouse and insisted to only use the Windows command line to code. This mindset almost killed off IBM and it killed off Data General.

IMO by the time you are 50 in a technology career, you should either be an executive, entrepreneur, independent consultant or an angel investor / VC leading the next generation.

Nobody owes you a confortable, salaried job doing the same thing for forty years with no one reporting to you.

 

[66318]

So I'll repeat my point - if there were the best qualified candidates, great. But I am skeptical, simply because of the numbers. People can't be surprised if men dominate the IT field when women receive less than 20% of the degrees. If they received 50% of the degrees in that field it would be a different story.

Have you ever asked why women only compose under 20% of the degrees? And then listened to the answers from women? That is the first step to changing the reality of today.

Apple is one of the companies doing well in this regard. They get to share a first movers advantage where they likely are getting qualified candidates, as other companies are passing them over. Unconscious sexism or gender bias is an issue to be aware of just as unconscious racism. A company has to do a deep examination of their recruiting practices, job descriptions, work environment and more to really improve. Apple, along with Intel and a few others are showing great progress in this regard.

In the end, it's helping Apple succeed too. Look at the success of the Apple Watch over Android Wear in the markets outside the typical white male tech crowds. This happened because of likely key women hires early in that process, resulting in 38mm and unique band offerings. For the women I know that I've shown off the Apple Watch to, they find it a far more appealing choice over anything in the Android Wear offerings.

 

[britboyj]

Out of curiosity, how many of those 11,000 women were in retail?

 

[iceperson]

Have you ever asked why women only compose under 20% of the degrees? And then listened to the answers from women? That is the first step to changing the reality of today.

Why does it matter? Have you ever asked men why they don't pursue degrees in nursing, education, french poetry, social work, psychology, etc...? Equality in outcome is not the same as equality in opportunity. Perhaps we should discuss why you think women's current education and career choices shouldn't be respected...

 

[VulchR]

Why does everyone assume that an industry that doesn't perfectly mirror society racial and gender diversity is proof of discrimination which needs addressing?

Erm... perhaps because it is convincing evidence of discrimination. if there were a minority of men at Apple the male victim culture would be screaming about it. But don't worry, Apple is still mostly men. It's that Y chromosome. It makes us so much better at technology...