Google on Monday fired James Damore, the software engineer who wrote an internal memo that questioned the company’s policies on diversity and claimed there are fewer women engineers because of their “biological differences”. Damore confirmed that he was dismissed for “perpetuating gender stereotypes,” Reuters reported.
In an email to employees, Google Chief Sundar Pichai said that parts of the memo violate the firm’s Code of Conduct and “cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace”.
Pichai said that the contents in the memo were fair to debate but to suggest that some employees have traits that “make them less biologically suited to work is offensive and not okay.”
Danore, in a memo titled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, had said, “We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism.” He added that women prefer jobs in artistic or social areas while men in coding. The memo went viral on August 6, prompting harsh criticism from various quarters.
The full text of Damore’s memo was published here by Gizmodo.
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