back to article Google crafts algorithms to get more women in more positions

Google has fine-tuned its search algorithms to hone in on many things, from web pages to stock quotes and flight times, but its latest challenge may be its most ambitious yet. It's hoping its vaunted data-crunching prowess can help it bring in more women. By most accounts, geeks worldwide are falling all over themselves to …

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  1. Curly4
    Trollface

    discrimination?

    Is Google going to discriminate against men now. Or is there not women qualified working for the company?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: discrimination?

      They need more women to make the gene pool big enough to prevent inbreeding when the Google Space Ark blasts off to evade patent lawsuits. They were going to use Sex Androids but haven't figured out how to make them have babies...

      1. RICHTO
        Mushroom

        Re: discrimination?

        Nah - they probably just want to save money - and women get paid less for the same jobs. Much the same as employing Indians.

        Or perhaps the coffee machines at Google suck, and they need that human touch?

    2. a_been
      Black Helicopters

      Re: discrimination?

      Of course Google isn't going to discriminate against men, that's impossible as any feminist will tell you.

  2. nitsedy
    Thumb Up

    Good for Google!

    Traditional attempts to solve this problem have argued that men need to sit in meetings, be shown horrific videos, and then be told that they're evil misogynists by axe-wielding HR staffers. Google's approach is the right one, look at the objective data and then act on it. Everything mentioned here is objective, logical and reasonable. Moreover it does not discriminate against men while balancing out the natural differences in how men and women communicate. Nice to see a company taking on this kind of issue completely apart from emotions, accusations, and assumptions.

  3. 1ka
    Facepalm

    Ancient News

    Vātsyāyana had this covered over 2000 years ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C4%81tsy%C4%81yana

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now if they were 'really mathematical....

    They'd show me a mathematical model of how putting all this effort into employing women benefits the company. Or is that another of those questions we're not allowed to ask?

    1. Brangdon

      Re: Now if they were 'really mathematical....

      The benefit of having better staff at all levels should be obvious. Currently they are favouring less competent men over more competent women, because the women don't like to boast over the phone or recommend themselves for promotion.

      According to the article. Which you seem to have trouble reading.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Now if they were 'really mathematical....

        "Currently they are favouring less competent men over more competent women..."

        No, the article did not say that. It talked of women being less assertive or not boasting of their achievements when being interviewed or assessed. The article never mentioned any measure of the relative competence of male and female candidates. The other thing the article didn't mention was the ratio of male versus female applicants, which might also have a bearing on the ratio of men to women eventually employed.

        1. Brangdon

          Re: Now if they were 'really mathematical....

          Men are getting in because they are more assertive, not because they are more competent. If the woman on the phone has more achievements, but doesn't mention them, she's not going to be picked, is she? The man will be picked even if his achievements are less.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Now if they were 'really mathematical....

        Er no. It doesn't say that at all.

        This sort of thing happens when companies get so rich they don't know what to do with the money.

        The government notices they're making too many men rich and women are on the dole, so it threatens companies to take on loads of people who can't really compete, to save them from paying unemployment benefits.

        This usually makes the day of the equalities officer, who has had to sit, listening to loads of men talk about all sorts of things she doesn't have a chance of understanding, let alone making a living out of.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sabermetrics

      Google is a money-making machine. They're simply looking for a competitive advantage.

      It's like baseball teams using statistics to identify key attributes that traditional methods misvalue. If they can identify and work around prejudices and other companies don't, they'll get the pick of the women. The same would apply to racial or cultural prejudices, but given demograhpics (apparently about half the population are women) it makes sense that gender-related biases would be a key target.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nothing wrong with digging though data...

    ... to figure out where you're going wrong, or to find where you could be doing better. Plenty wrong with treating people as if they were data, or interchangeable black boxes, or whatnot. Google does a lot of things wrong, but it is trying to learn, at least regarding its own employees. I probably still wouldn't want to work there, mind, but there are worse places.

  6. Magani
    Unhappy

    Oh Dear

    Am I the only one who clicked on the link in breathless anticipation of finding something that would expand on the already vast number of positions found in the Karma Sutra.

    Quelle disappointment.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I came for the list of positions, very disappointed.

    Since I am reading the article, I have to add:

    "By most accounts, geeks worldwide are falling all over themselves to land jobs at Google"... yeah right... or maybe because I'm an engineer, I have no call for what ggl is doing.

    I would welcome more women in my wokplace.

    One more thing, from personal observations, most women don't like to work with women, unless they are in HR, so their proportion must and will reach some critical mass, after that, who knows...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      wokplace?

      sorry for "wokplace"... It's lunch time...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A fine example of the biases of gender reporting. It happily repeats a line like "At the same time, some say women are being pushed out" when it doesn't even dream of making the opposite statement which is more obviously true: that men are being pushed out, and that Google is seeking ever novel ways to justify pushing them out.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Couldn't they use a Porsche, like normal people ;)

  10. RobS

    On boasting

    I have been on interviewing panels in the UK and in NZ. While in the UK, all interviewees were British. In NZ, I have had a range from all over the world. I discovered that I had to be very careful when interviewing US and UK candidates on the same day (NB male candidates) because the US candidates always came across as arrogant no-it-alls (not only do I know everything, I could write the definitive textbook with my eyes close) compared to the UK candidates (I know that I don't know everything). I realise that the difference is primarily cultural and no longer automatically discount the US guy as an idiot (Dunning Krueger effect). Nice to have some evidence that the indoctrination hasn't taken for at least 50% of the US population. I think that always having to "give 110%" has something to do with the problem. I can't manage more than 100% myself.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: On boasting

      "...arrogant no-it-alls..."

      People who say 'No' all the time?

  11. cowslayer
    Coat

    One third?

    Wow, that's a lot of cleaners....

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