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A comment on Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone Too Far. Parent comment

Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by sgustard on Saturday September 23, 2017 @11:30PM (#15323161)
The argument for diversity is that by not actively working for diversity, we will reflexively hire people like ourselves, which for the most part are white males. In addition, we are talking about groups which have been historically discriminated against. Affirmative action is about fairness (of opportunity), more so than goodness (for the company).
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Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by meowface on Sunday September 24, 2017 @12:12AM (#15323260)
I think that's a solid argument, but shouldn't the goal be to hire based on merit, not "hire people like ourselves" or "try to avoid hiring people like ourselves by erring towards hiring people not like ourselves"? I think blinding as much as possible in the interview process is fairer and, in the long run, simpler for everyone involved.
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Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by DanBC on Sunday September 24, 2017 @04:12AM (#15323843)
Yes, the goal is to hire on merit. By only hiring people who look like us we're both hiring people who lack merit purely because they're white men, and failing to hire people who have merit purely because they're not white men.

The "but we want to hire on merit" argument is clearly fucking bullshit if you've ever had any involvement in recruitment and seen how flawed it is.

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Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by meowface on Sunday September 24, 2017 @12:44PM (#15325417)
I never said people who want to hire on merit necessarily achieve their goals, just that we should actually remember the original goal and try to achieve it.

It's much harder for white men to preferentially hire white men if as much of the interview process as possible is blinded.

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Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by threatofrain on Sunday September 24, 2017 @03:10AM (#15323678)
Blinding your hiring process may actually make things more lopsided sometimes; i.e., technical screenings without seeing identity. You may find even less minorities hired.
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Re:Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone ... by meowface on Sunday September 24, 2017 @12:45PM (#15325427)
Isn't technical screenings without seeing identity helping to remove bias and discrimination, which is our goal in the first place? I don't think I understand your comment.
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