One of the biggest issues with this problem is how complex the causation seems to be. There is no one single factor that a person can point to and say "This right here is how it happened". I suspect the solution will be equally complex.

In regards to 'how is it a problem?', it's hard to tell if it is or isn't, since in Silicon Valley, it has always been skewed towards these demographics, and as such, we don't really have anything to compare to. I have a hunch though that a lack of diversity in an environment so dependent on innovation will almost always be a net negative.

Hear, hear. And while we might not be able to fix a problem without understanding causation, we certainly can't find the causations without first recognizing that there is a problem.

Is lack of diversity in our industry a problem? I share a strong hunch that it is. That's enough for me to want to talk about it.

So bring on the correlations, the symptoms, the graphs without solutions. Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.