Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts

Friday, May 23, 2014

Jesse Jackson presses Facebook on lack of diversity


[SOURCE] Jesse Jackson isn’t keeping quiet about the lack of diversity in the tech industry’s ranks.


The civil rights veteran and former presidential candidate plans to attend Facebook’s annual shareholders meeting in Redwood City today, pressing the company to include more minorities on its board and within its executive ranks. He has paid similar visits to shareholder meetings of eBay, Google and Hewlett-Packard this spring.

“At its best, technology can be a tremendously positive change agent for the world,” Jackson said, in a prepared statement. “At its worst, it can hold on to old patterns that exclude people of color and women from opportunity and advancement. Silicon Valley and the tech industry must transform itself to mirror the America it depends upon for talent and customers.”

Staff diversity among tech companies has come under increasing scrutiny, with many critics decrying a “bro culture” that often tends to be white and male. Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition are trying to focus some of that attention on the lack of diversity in the tech world’s board rooms and C-suites.

They’ve had some small successes. Last week, Google announced it would release a report that includes race and gender statistics for its workforce.