These newly released numbers show the severity of Silicon Valley's diversity problem
Silicon Valley's diversity problem is no secret — and now, there are damning statistics to prove it.
A new investigation from Reveal broke down 23 top tech companies' employees by race, gender, and job categories. The results were illuminating: Apple employs the highest percentage of underrepresented minority women ... at 9 percent. And that was the highest percentage.
TechCrunch pointed out that Apple's data includes its retail employees, not just corporate workers, which likely boosts the company's numbers. When the data is filtered to just include professionals, Apple drops to almost the bottom of the list; underrepresented minority women make up just 3 percent of Apple professional employees.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That's not too far from Lyft's 5 percent — which was, you may have guessed, the highest percentage of underrepresented minority women in professional roles. Meanwhile, not a single company had a majority of female employees, though 23andMe came closest with a 50-50 male-female split.
It's important to note that only 23 of the world's leading tech companies are represented in this data, though not for lack of trying. Reveal requested government-mandated diversity reports from 211 top companies.
So until those 188 other companies decide to be transparent, there's no telling just how homogenous things are in the tech world. Read more about the investigation's findings at Reveal.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocks
Speed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US Steel
Speed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battle
Speed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rally
Speed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?
Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US charges Indian tycoon with bribery, fraud
Speed Read Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by US prosecutors for his role in a $265 million scheme to secure solar energy deals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published