Google says it's committed to diversity. It just shut down an employee-led diversity plan.


Google employees want diversity. They did the leg work and came up with a plan to make it happen.
Shareholders from Google parent company Alphabet still voted it down.
Employees and some shareholders think Google's diversity issues could make it hard to hire and keep workers, locking out innovation, Reuters reports. So employees wrapped up their concerns in a proposal and presented it at Alphabet's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday — in case the problem wasn't made obvious by last year's infamous memo by a company engineer claiming women are genetically inferior when it comes to all that computer stuff.
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.
Proposal writers realized executives love money and devised a way to tie incentives to inclusion measures, an employee tells Bloomberg. But shareholders didn't want to risk any of their cash and rejected the measures, per Reuters. Google still claims it'll achieve "market supply" representation by 2020, because people should be referred to with economic terms.
Still, one of Google's lead emoji managers, Jennifer Daniel, wants to make sure we don't ignore the massive progress Google has already achieved:
In fairness, Daniel appears to be in on the joke. But still: Progressives, take note.
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.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 10, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and more
-
5 streetwise cartoons about defunding PBS
Cartoons Artists take on immigrant puppets, defense spending, and more
-
Dark chocolate macadamia cookies recipe
The Week Recommends These one-bowl cookies will melt in your mouth
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pauses
Speed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
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
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine