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Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

theguardian.com

1–10 of 23 posts

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#2
I fail to see what is new or special about this.

EDIT: I mean that all companies will be bothered by the government, regardless of what they allegedly did or didn't do. Prosecutors will go to the press and risk causing extra damage to the reputation of the companies when a company refuses their fishing expedition.

With the current administration, I would just have expected less zeal. But sadly some things never change.

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#3

I fail to see what is new or special about this. EDIT: I mean that all companies will be bothered by the government, regardless of what they allegedly did or didn't do. Prosecutors will go to the press and risk causing extra damage to the reputation of the companies when a company refuses their fishing expedition. With the current administration, I would just have expected less zeal. But sadly some things never chang…

Well i'm a bit surprised it was Google. It's something i really expect from Uber.

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#4
> Lawless, who is not involved in the Google case, also said the company should be more transparent about its compensation practices: “If you’re innocent, then you open your records up in such a manner that people can see that people are being paid equally.”

Why do these unrelated lawyers want access to Google's salary band data?

It looks like they're civil rights lawyers; they might want to use it as a tool in their own cases. I wonder why Google's data specifically would help them.

(edit) It's a string attached to government money, not an out-of-the-blue demand for records or a lawsuit on behalf of any particular person:

https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20170104

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#6

> Lawless, who is not involved in the Google case, also said the company should be more transparent about its compensation practices: “If you’re innocent, then you open your records up in such a manner that people can see that people are being paid equally.” Why do these unrelated lawyers want access to Google's salary band data? It looks like they're civil rights lawyers; they might want to use it as a tool in their…

Maybe it's too early, but for the life of me I can't find anywhere in the article where the data will be shared with Lawless and Scwartz. As I read it, the data only goes to DOL and those 2 were just asked for comments. Is is that once Google gives the data to DOL Lawless and Schwartz can then request it (maybe via FOIA)?

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#7
This stuff is cancer. I think Google made a terrible mistake trying to placate those who want equality of outcome. It's not achievable or even desirable.

In an effort supposedly to combat sexism and racism, discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnicity is now normalized and practically codified. But equality of outcome still proves elusive, as it always will, so people say Google still hasn't gone far enough. It never will be able to satisfy such people.

But I think a huge amount of damage may be done in the process of trying, in the form of making gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, etc, more important when we want to be making progress toward a world in which those things are not considered very important at all.

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#8

I fail to see what is new or special about this. EDIT: I mean that all companies will be bothered by the government, regardless of what they allegedly did or didn't do. Prosecutors will go to the press and risk causing extra damage to the reputation of the companies when a company refuses their fishing expedition. With the current administration, I would just have expected less zeal. But sadly some things never chang…

Well i'm a bit surprised it was Google. It's something i really expect from Uber.

[deleted]

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#9
post #7

This stuff is cancer. I think Google made a terrible mistake trying to placate those who want equality of outcome. It's not achievable or even desirable. In an effort supposedly to combat sexism and racism, discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnicity is now normalized and practically codified. But equality of outcome still proves elusive, as it always will, so people say Google still hasn't gone far enough. I…

Another way of looking at it is that efforts at pay equality simply counteract bias built in to the system. Though it's often unspoken, gender/ethnicity/etc. already are hugely important in pay, even if the bias is unconscious.

There could be various reasons women are paid less which, from a business perspective, make some sense, e.g. the likelihood the business will lose its investment in the employee on account of her quitting work to raise children. By pressuring employers to pay women more than they assess them to worth, it may actually discourage employment of women and decrease diversity in the workplace. But surely it's some of both: women looked at individually do have some additional risk over your average man due to biology as well as the desire to actively mother children, AND women are unfairly (if unconsciously) discriminated against by men who assume they're less capable simply because they're women.

I actually feel pretty comfortable with per-job-code on-average pay equality between men and women. I think it's symbolically important, as well as acknowledging that simply having more female voices in the organization has worth in and of itself. But I would hope it could be enforced by social norms rather than requiring onerous government action.

Re: Google tried to block media coverage of gender discrimination case

#10
post #9
post #7

This stuff is cancer. I think Google made a terrible mistake trying to placate those who want equality of outcome. It's not achievable or even desirable. In an effort supposedly to combat sexism and racism, discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnicity is now normalized and practically codified. But equality of outcome still proves elusive, as it always will, so people say Google still hasn't gone far enough. I…

Another way of looking at it is that efforts at pay equality simply counteract bias built in to the system. Though it's often unspoken, gender/ethnicity/etc. already are hugely important in pay, even if the bias is unconscious. There could be various reasons women are paid less which, from a business perspective, make some sense, e.g. the likelihood the business will lose its investment in the employee on account of…

"Women looked at individually do have some additional risk over your average man due to biology as well as the desire to actively mother children". Hmmmm....
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