Apple?s diversity figures definitely not cutting-edge

Apple recently released its latest diversity report, and it’s filled with videos and photos of a range of races, genders, orientations and ethnicities, along with a slew of rainbow flags.

But the figures reported reveal that Apple’s some 100,000 employees are no more diverse than those of other Silicon Valley tech companies. Apple tech employees are: 70 percent male and 77 percent white and Asian. Among leadership, it’s three percent black, six percent Hispanic and 85 percent white and Asian.

As Bloomberg news points out, though, Apple’s figures are better than others in the industry, “but it's the only company that employs thousands of retail employees.”

But this comes as no surprise. A month ago, Speed Matters posted a blog detailing an op-ed written by three California Democratic congresswomen. Representatives Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, and Barbara Lee wrote that among Silicon Valley tech firms, “... it is painfully clear the sector faces a persistent and troubling deficit when it comes to women, African-Americans and Latinos.”

Apple’s report is headlined by a letter from CEO Tim Cook, who is clearly unhappy. Cook writes, “As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them.”

He then adds somewhat disingenuously, “We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products.”

And, overall, the numbers remain embarrassing. Said Bloomberg, “Women have 16 percent of those jobs on average at Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter worldwide. Hispanics and blacks comprise 6 percent combined in the U.S.”

We would probably not know any of these numbers were it not for a young, female Pinterest engineer named Tracy Chou. In October 2013, she posted on Medium a story headlined, “Where Are the Numbers?” In short, she observed a distinct lack of diversity, but found that companies were fudging numbers. Chou wrote, “The actual numbers I’ve seen and experienced in industry are far lower than anybody is willing to admit. This means nobody is having honest conversations about the issue.”

Apple’s report, although it apparently won’t comment on it, might be due to Chou’s willingness to go public with the question. There now will be a continuing discussion on this difficult but central issue.

At Speed Matters, we believe that everyone should have an equal chance to benefit from our most dynamic and profitable industries.

Apple Diversity Report (Apple, Aug. 2, 2014)

The Silicon Valley Diversity Numbers Nobody Is Proud Of (Bloomberg, Aug. 12, 2014)

Silicon Valley persists in lack of diversity, write Democrats (Speed Matters, Jul. 10, 2014)

Where are the numbers? (Medium, Oct. 11, 2013)