AppleInsider Staff
American political activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday launched a new campaign aimed at drawing awareness to the lack of racial diversity in the executive ranks of top-tier Silicon Valley firms, including Apple.
"Technology is supposed to be about inclusion, but sadly, patterns of exclusion remains the order of the day," Jackson wrote in a letter issued under the Rainbow PUSH Coalition banner. "When it comes to African Americans on Board - ZERO. C-suites, ZERO. Minority firms in IPO's and financial transactions, advertising and professional services - ZERO. These ZEROES are contrary to the enlightened values exposed by the industry. Rainbow PUSH is seeking meetings with tech leaders to address these ZEROES head on."
In addition to Apple, the coalition distributed copies of the letter to Twitter, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, Google and "other iconic Silicon Valley technology companies." It is not the first time Apple has come under fire for the relative lack of diversity in its executive ranks, which features few women or minorities.
Former Avon CEO Andrea Jung is the lone female member of the company's board, while communications vice president Katie Cotton and human resources head Denise Young-Smith — an African-American — are the only women known to report directly to CEO Tim Cook. Incoming retail chief Angela Ahrendts, now the CEO of fashion house Burberry, will be the first woman on Apple's senior leadership team when she joins later this spring.
In January, following pressure from shareholders, Apple directors altered the charter of the Nominating and Corporate Governance committee to include language codifying a commitment to diversifying the makeup of the board.
"The Committee is committed to actively seeking out highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which Board nominees are chosen," the bylaws now read.
Charles Martin
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271 Comments
I say hire the best people for the job whatever their color, age, sex etc. I have a dream that one day people will be hired not for the color of their skin....
I say hire the best people for the job whatever their color, age, sex etc.
I have a dream that one day people will be hired not for the color of their skin....
I agree that firms should hire the best people for the job without regard to race, age, sex etc.
However, I also think that there are real inequities in society that need to be addressed, and that in far too many cases people who say what you said (and what I agree with) pretend those inequities don't exist or are opposed to every single idea for addressing them.
So I think that if one rejects one idea, then there is some burden on the rejector to suggest an alternative.
The alternative I suggest is to focus on economic inequality rather than racial/gender/etc inequality, and use mildly redistributionist policies to address those inequities. By "mildly redistributionist" I mean taxing the rich at a higher marginal rate than the middle class and poor, and using that money to support things like the earned income tax credit and education and health care for the poor. In other words, I support the types of policies that the mainstream Democratic party supports, and that the Republican party is constantly trying to eliminate.
I agree that firms should hire the best people for the job without regard to race, age, sex etc.
However, I also think that there are real inequities in society that need to be addressed, and that in far too many cases people who say what you said (and what I agree with) pretend those inequities don't exist or are opposed to every single idea for addressing them.
So I think that if one rejects one idea, then there is some burden on the rejector to suggest an alternative.
The alternative I suggest is to focus on economic inequality rather than racial/gender/etc inequality, and use mildly redistributionist policies to address those inequities. By "mildly redistributionist" I mean taxing the rich at a higher marginal rate than the middle class and poor, and using that money to support things like the earned income tax credit and education and health care for the poor. In other words, I support the types of policies that the mainstream Democratic party supports, and that the Republican party is constantly trying to eliminate.
Exactly - there's definitely a problem, but the tough part is figuring out where that problem comes from. Is it the hiring process (i.e, people of different races being passed over for some reason)? Is it the applications (people of different races aren't applying for some reason)? Is it before that, in the education system? Or before that?
In my opinion it's an issue at the most basic level with quality of life, as you said. We see the same lack of diversity at college / university level, not just with businesses - so it can't be to do with the companies themselves. The most obvious factor that is likely to be influencing this is economic equality or lack thereof.
Somebody's trying to stem the tide of growing irrelevance.
This inequality has to be tackled much lower down the food chain, in education and work and in promotions. It's often the case that the arse lickers climb up the corporate ladder quicker than the qualified. You can't make changes at that level by statistical targets it should happen organically by removing prejudice wherever it manifests itself in society.