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Ellen Pao Launches Advocacy Group To Improve Diversity In The Tech Industry (theverge.com) 265

Posted by BeauHD from the online-diversity dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Ellen Pao, a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist, today announced the launch of Project Include, an advocacy group aimed at improving diversity in the technology industry. The group was started by Pao and fellow female engineers and executives, including members of Slack, Pinterest, and other Bay Area VC firms. The initiative will focus on providing startups and established tech companies with information on making hiring more inclusive, improving retention, and examining bias in the workplace. Pao became embroiled in one of the most divisive debates in tech last year after suing her former employer, VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, for gender discrimination. She lost at trial and, later, stepped down from her position as interim CEO of Reddit following a severe harassment campaign. Project Include is also accepting as many as 18 startups, who can apply to receive recommendations through a program called Start-Up Include.
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Ellen Pao Launches Advocacy Group To Improve Diversity In The Tech Industry More

Ellen Pao Launches Advocacy Group To Improve Diversity In The Tech Industry

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  • Fuck anyone with a penis! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:39PM (#52040205)

    If you disagree then you're part of the patriarchy.

    • Re:Fuck anyone with a penis! (Score:4, Informative)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:48PM (#52040297)

      To an SJW, disagreement is synonymous with harassment.

      • Something tells me that this new Ellen Pao group to advocate for diversity is not going to sit well with the Anonymous Cowards on Slashdot.

        Just a hunch.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I think I finally understand (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This woman is having the longest period ever.

    • Re:I think I finally understand (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:51PM (#52040319)

      That's exactly the kind of misogynist hatespeech that's proof that this initative is needed. Ellen Pao is a hero and you should be fired.

      • Re: I think I finally understand (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        It's not bigotry if it's true.

      • Re:I think I finally understand (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:25PM (#52040605)

        The shit Ellen Pao has done in the past has done so much harm to the image of women in tech leadership roles than this bullshit campaign can ever fix.

        • The shit Ellen Pao has done in the past has done so much harm to the image of women in tech leadership roles than this bullshit campaign can ever fix.

          Just because you find her unsympathetic and her case was lost, doesn't mean she's wrong or did bad things (you call it "shit").
          Or do you have proof? Citations/links please.

          Thanks.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by KGIII ( 973947 )

            Err... Wouldn't proof be her lost case?

            I might be missing something - I've not really kept up as I don't even have a Reddit account. I did learn that there is a KGIII on Reddit but, alas, I'm not that person but I don't begrudge them the use of my moniker - I wasn't going to use it there. I don't know if they're trying to pretend to be me, I kind of doubt it, as they appear to be fond of basketball which is not something folks would expect of me. I have, on the other hand, had people try to impersonate me i

      • Re:I think I finally understand (Score:5, Interesting)

        by lucm ( 889690 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @08:32PM (#52040985)

        Correction: he should be fired quietly and he should not make a tweet or post a single comment on Reddit to report it.

        We don't want to repeat the Donglegate incident where Adria Richards, after being psychologically raped by a private discussion made behind her in a room full of 300 people, was victimized a second time by people who unfairly called her a cunt for getting a guy fired over such bullshit.

  • When you can't do real work.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:44PM (#52040255)

    Start an advocacy group to harass people who can.

    • Re:When you can't do real work.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:16PM (#52040545)

      If this "project" follows the standard race-hustling/gender-hustling formula, it will look something like this:

      1) They approach your company and ask for you to sponsor them, or hire them to provide diversity training, or pay them to do a diversity study of your company (aka they'll shake you down for money)
      2) If you do sponsor/hire them, they'll call you progressive and give you a social justice free pass (a real commodity in ultra-liberal Silicon Valley)
      3) If you don't, they'll cite you as an example of a company that's not "embracing diversity" and is clearly racist/sexist/homophobic blah blah. You must be, otherwise you would have embraced diversity by giving them money, right?

  • Step 1 to improving your company (Score:5, Insightful)

    by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:44PM (#52040257)

    Never hire Ellen Pao.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ...and never invest money with her husband. [wikipedia.org]

      Grifters like Pao and Fletcher are why we can't have nice things.

      • Did you see the "Personal Life" section in the wikipedia article. Her husband, besides being a terrible businessman and suing people over racial allegations, used to be married to a guy, for 10 years.

        I don't know what, as a society, we've done wrong to make this kind of couple possible.

      • Grifters like Pao and Fletcher are why we can't have nice things.

        ...and why THEY shouldn't have nice things.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      She has made herself difficult to employ now. It's a shame because it just makes it even harder for other people to complain about discrimination, for fear of ending up the same way.

      Maybe she can find another job like Reddit. I think she was brought in to make necessary changes and absorb the backlash. It worked brilliantly, Reddit is better off now and the screaming mob think they "won" by forcing her out. I just wonder if she was in on this plan before she accepted the job.

      • because it just makes it even harder for other people to complain about discrimination

        This is the real tragedy. Just like any false claim that appear to be on the rise. http://www.breitbart.com/milo/... [breitbart.com]

        Take Brietbart for what its worth but the links are at the bottom.

        The whole "ends justify the means" or "there are no wrong tactics just bad targets" is counter productive and destructive.

        If you believe what Anita believes that "Everything is racist. Everything is sexist. Everything is homophobic." then it is no wonder people see it where it is not.

  • How about more 'diverse' U.S. citizens? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kheldan ( 1460303 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:48PM (#52040295) Journal
    If she's backing more U.S. citizens being employed instead of more overseas workers brought in on H1-B's, then I'm all for it, otherwise I couldn't care less.

    • Re:How about more 'diverse' U.S. citizens? (Score:5, Informative)

      by TheGratefulNet ( 143330 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:26PM (#52040619)

      agism is the elephant in the room (I'm biased, I'm over 50 and unemployed in the bay area). I see lots of women where I was previous employed (at pretty much any place); but if you look for grey hair guys and girls, no, there are some token hires or maybe some rock star that happens to be old; but for the most part, if you are over 35 and looking to stay technical in this area of the country, LOTSA LUCK to you.

      the other elephant (yeah, its crowded in this room) is that if you are born in the west, especially the US, employers mostly prefer to NOT hire you and instead take an h1b or other form of import. its not about race; its about being brought up here and knowing your rights, knowing you can say NO to your boss for that 4th weekend request in a row of his, knowing lots of things that foreigners who were not raised in the US culture simply don't know.

      employers leverage the HELL out of that fact. most people outside the US who are from asia, for example, has zero idea what freedom really is. they are perfectly fine with being eavesdropped, spied, directed, micromanaged and then disposed of. they think its normal. US born folks know better, and so we are not the first choice when it comes to hiring.

      the cries of DIVERSITY! is bullshit and yet another distraction to hide what is really going on. war on middle class; and that mostly means folks born here and who have a vested interest in what happens here in the next 10, 20, 50 years. but we are being passed over for most of the core hiring in the valley.

      btw, indians who end up staying here and having kids; YOUR kids are now americans and they will be passed over just like I and my friends are, now. think long and hard about that, immigrants; and think again if you really should hire yet more h1b's or if you should, maybe give some locals a chance at some of those jobs. later on, your kids will be the locals. think about it.

      • I haven't spoken to her recently... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        But I actually know someone exactly like that. Late 50s, has worked in every facet of QA, administration, and even mid-range scripting (never really got into dev work, but could do basically every other role you'd need to round out your team.)

        She got laid off around the '08 downturn and hasn't been able to get a hire since, despite having 20 years of techwork under her belt and staying up to date on the OSes, software, etc for which she'd be responsible.

        Maybe the real issue isn't all the old people being 'w

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shados ( 741919 )

        If you're over 50 and in the interview, it's obvious that you're up to date (that doesn't mean knowing the API of the latest trendy bullshit, but it does mean you don't think SVN is new and scary), and you have the skills of someone with 25+ years of experience, not only will you get an offer before you have time to get in your car, in any of the tech hubs (not just SV and the west coast), the conversation will start at over 300k total comp and you'll be able to milk them up from there.

        The problem is that t

  • Let's shift that focus a little (Score:5, Insightful)

    by suupaabaka ( 854944 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:49PM (#52040303)

    The article is a bit light in detail as to what Pao's trying to accomplish, but from her history, I'm assuming it's about gender

    But maybe we should focus on diversity of skills and experience rather than diversity of physical characteristics?

    • Re:Let's shift that focus a little (Score:5, Insightful)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:57PM (#52040389)

      The article is a bit light in detail as to what Pao's trying to accomplish

      My guess would be to extort businesses to give her money under the threat of calling them sexist-racists if they don't. You know, the standard race-hustling, gender-hustling modus operandi.

      • So she's pulling an "Asian Woman" Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson racket, then?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsotha ( 720379 )
      It's a shakedown racket. That's what qualifies as a Heroic Woman In Tech idea.

  • Slashdot Still Fooled by Harassment Narratives? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Kunedog ( 1033226 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:54PM (#52040359)

    She lost at trial and, later, stepped down from her position as interim CEO of Reddit following a severe harassment campaign

    Please. Here's an outline of the shitshow that Pao and the rest of the Reddit regime (which is still largely intact) caused, leading to her ouster:
    https://news.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org]

  • Enough with Diversity (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BeemanIT ( 4023223 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:56PM (#52040381)
    Just getting tired about all this diversity stuff and not enough with just simply having the best workers. If they want diversity why does this seem to be limited to the Technology area and not to other areas like medicine? For examples most nurses are women, you don't hear them saying they need more men in nursing?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Actually, there are many schemes and incentives aimed at getting more men into nursing. Ditto teaching, especially for very young children.

      The thing about hiring the "best" candidate is that you need to define "best" somehow. You could argue that it should be the most qualified or most experienced or who does best on a test, but in practice businesses have to consider many other factors.

      Is it worth paying top dollar for this job? Will this person fit in with the rest of the team? What non-technical skills a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      In the US, there is a push to get men into nursing. Nursing (may) involve(s) a lot of physical labor, and having men that can move 300+ pound patients is an unfortunate necessity.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bigbutt ( 65939 )

      It's interesting to read that while male nurses are 6% to 10% of the total, female nurses still make less than a male nurse makes.

      http://nursinglink.monster.com... [monster.com]

      "About 6 percent of nurses in the United States are men. However, men are represented in much higher numbers in nursing specialties that also pay higher salaries. For example, 49 percent of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) in the U.S. are men. In 2005, the average salary for CRNAs was $160,000, significantly higher than the average

    • People don't complain much about a lack of men in nursing because it's one of the few things women have that isn't constantly contested. "What's that, little girl full of hopes and dreams? You say you might wanna be grow up to be a game developer? No!! Go to Hell, you filthy casual-gamer fake-geek! You wanna be a nurse or an elementary school teacher? Well all right then, that's better. Go play with your dollies."

  • Well, THIS should engender thoughtful discussion. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jeffb (2.718) ( 1189693 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:03PM (#52040443)

    I hate it when the handlers don't warn the bystanders before they throw in the raw meat.

    • You couldn't tell from the headline?

    • Slashdot wasn't always like this. I only started regularly reading this site a couple months ago, and man things have changed. The community used to get excited to hear about pushes for women in tech. The thoughtful people either moved on, or went silent. And now articles like these are insta-cancer for the comment section. Over on reddit, you can easily presume it's mostly early-teenagers who are afraid of losing their manly-sexy video games. But I can't imagine why would that demographic ever bother hangi

  • better products through diversity (Score:4, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:07PM (#52040477)
    Yes, we must end the scourge of things being designed by well educated engineers, and add the diversity of blond bimbo strippers, people who "identify" with the gender that they were not born into, people who choose to waste their public education and remain illiterate (although some of those are still waiting for the Basketball or rap "music" opportunity that society owes them), and people who bring different insight through dubious chemical means that Obama chooses to look the other way on. Of course, we will still let the engineers do the actual work, but we must add the other diversity to the design teams.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Unfortunately, this is typical of the horseshit dumped on us by the anti-diversity crowd. No-one is suggesting hiring people who aren't qualified to do the actual job.

      Then that seemingly reasonable straw man is used to launch into some transphobic and racist bullshit. Nice.

    • This is some uncommonly good troll-bait. I must admit, I almost fell for it. Could you imagine if anyone was really dumb enough to think this way, and then be vocal about it in public forums devoted to nerds? That's be insane.

  • Fuck Ellen Pao (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Yeah, just for some background. Ellen Pao was no-one. She wasn't a long term user of the site. They tried to make it look like that, but it was a transparent attempt. She was one of these Ivy League fucking for-no-other-reason climbers. They tried to give her a back story as a long term "one of us" people. That only made it worse. And when there was the inevitable pushback against her inevitable claims of sexism, there was an inevitable escalation of those claims. That's all you need to know, other than tha

  • If such is possible in Silicon Valley (i.e. complaints about lack of diversity in many SV companies if not counting janitorial staff). I haven't RTFA but appears this group will go nowhere with the techies based on the comments here.
  • Why tell other people what to think when you can just do what you think everyone else should do, then if it brings you success people will emulate what you have done when you led by example. Share holders see advocates as a risk vector, where as experts with a proven track record are seen for their potential to grow profits and their advice is sought-after.

  • Chairman Pao (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zapadnik ( 2965889 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:42PM (#52040715)

    Over on Reddit they started calling her "Chairman Pao" for the censorious regime Ms Pao imposed. She also 'purged' pro-Free Speech moderators. We gotta fight such people, the authoritarians "doing it for our own good" or because it "hurts someones feelings".

    Free Speech is the whole ballgame. Lose that and no-one gets to "talk Truth to Power".

  • What would help diversity (Score:4, Interesting)

    by melted ( 227442 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:48PM (#52040741) Homepage

    What would help diversity (among other things) is not extorting a multimillion dollar settlement out of your employer by filing a lawsuit about things you've made up.

  • You mean like learning how to tolerate outsized egos and intrusive innuendos so the Pao's of the world don't quit?

    No matter where you are, you learn to fit in or you become a crybaby and leave.

  • She should try improving her own competency (Score:5, Informative)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @08:13PM (#52040875)
    Pao is still operating under the delusion that she's no longer a VC due to sexism. Anyone who closely followed her bias case against Kleiner Perkins knows the exact opposite is true; she was given extraordinary opportunities there, much more than the average partner-in-training. Yet she still couldn't get out of her own way on the path to success paved for her by John Doerr. Diversity was not her foe; it was entitlement, jealously, laziness, and incompetence.

  • Women are laughing all the way to the bank now. (Score:3)

    by Shados ( 741919 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @08:41PM (#52041023)

    While there's problems everywhere, since the biggest issue is long before any tech company can get (directly) involved (how parents raise kids, school, TV, etc), there's starting to be statistics showing that women right of college are starting to make quite a bit more than men (because of all the big tech companies under fire desperately trying to hire them).

    So unless you're critically incompetent, right now if you come out of CS and you're a girl, you're basically an instant-hire and you can negotiate your salary to oblivion.

    Welp, since my wife is a pretty successful software engineer, I indirectly benefit...but...

    • Could you please point me to these statistics? This sounds pretty exciting. I want you to be right. I already understand that the "70 cents on a dollar" number often used is skewed and related to bad stats or outdated info. But I've yet to hear anything about women making more than men.

  • forcing diversity = discrimination (Score:3)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @01:45AM (#52042497)

    if you are looking to recruit people based on their skin color, sex, age, etc. then what you are actually doing is discriminating against the majority. racism/sexism/ageism/etc. are not magically acceptable because you have good intentions. instead of forcing diversity people should be looking to reduce selection bias for everything except their merits.

  • I'm glad to see she'll be doing something where she can't effect or harm other people. Hopefully it'll be a few decades before she realizes that everybody is ignoring her.

  • Where I am adding diversity would mean giving visible minority jobs to western Europeans.

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