World’s largest media platform Facebook has recently been involved in number of scandals from bias reporting to privacy issues. The tech giant is once again in hot waters, after it blamed its poor workforce diversity on a lack of available talent.
The following claim is being slammed by the tech world and the onslaught comes after the tech giant gave its reasoning as to why it mainly employs white men.
"It has become clear that at the most fundamental level, appropriate representation in technology or any other industry will depend upon more people having the opportunity to gain necessary skills through the public education system," wrote Maxine Williams, Facebook Global Director of Diversity.
The Director also noted that few US high schools teach computer science, while the number of women and minorities taking those classes are even fewer.
“Currently, only 1 in 4 US high schools teach computer science. In 2015, seven states had fewer than 10 girls take the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam and no girls took the exam in three states. No Black people took the exam in nine states including Mississippi where about 50% of high school graduates are Black, and 18 states had fewer than 10 Hispanics take the exam with another five states having no Hispanic AP Computer Science (CS) test takers, wrote Maxine.
However, the Director was of the view that the current trend “has to change.”
The following statements were met with criticism from different corners of tech world. As Business Insider reported, that the situation is not just confined to Facebook, but is found across the board in the industry.
Kaya Thomas, a black woman studying computer science at Dartmouth College said, "Many, like me, are very disappointed with Facebook's lack of research and effort on the issue of recruiting underrepresented talent."
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