Many Google employees disagree with the firing of the memo writer

[DonFerrari]

Nymeria said:
It's a mix from my experience. There are no official barriers I've seen from women getting into any department. At the company I work for the tech department is nearly all guys (~90%) and I don't think any of them would object to being called "nerds". Most women I know don't associate that crowd as something they want to emulate or transform. Those that are nerdy fit in fine, but they are a minority.

Example I use is video games. I've been playing since the NES and it has always been tricky to discuss it with women. Growing up I couldn't discuss Super Metroid or Metal Gear Solid, those were "Tom Boy" habits that drew quizzical looks. Even today when discussing gaming I know women who game via their phones spending hours on something like Candy Crush, but they don't know who Miyamoto is or care to discuss the variations in combat between a Nioh and a Nier. It's fine, but I can't force people to like something they don't or in the same way I do.

That said, women do face an issue in work places men do not in modern society. The balance of work and home and how the company and other look at it. I work at a massive company, and only recently have they acknowledged the need of many new parents for time off. Yet, even though this exists you can see how attitudes resist it. Men, who use to get zero days, now get 15, often decide not to use all or even any of those days because you get 75% pay as opposed to 100%. Women went from 10 days to 45 days, and some take it, but they can be resented by co-workers. Having 2-4 kids in your prime earning years can now mean taking off two months every two years which does affect career trajectory.

This is why I see many women settle into comfortable roles at mid level because the demands are too great to accommodate. Now, there are some women who forego children or power through or even have a spouse alleviate the burden to allow them to go higher up should they choose. The challenge is on both these days with dual incomes as men are expected to be bread winners and women expected to be home makers.

It is right to say we'll likely never have full parity because we are different. I would say society, from government policies to general attitudes definitely play a role in decisions people make and can reinforce roles.

Very refreshing post.

And that is one of the points of the memo. How to make the carrer in those positions one that would allow for more women that are also strong mothers to pursue... one of them was offloading the burden of the top position by sharing more power on middle management and individual leaders, thus allowing good female leaders to ascend to top management, be mothers and still manage their schedules without going crazy.