Facebook’s diversity leader blamed our educational system and talent pipeline as a reason for the company’s lack of diversity. According to recent diversity statistics, Facebook’s workforce is composed primarily of men at 67 percent; of these, 83 percent comprise of tech-related jobs. And as much as 73 percent of senior leadership positions are occupied by men.
Maxine Williams, Facebook’s Global Director of Diversity, said that”appropriate representation in technology” results from access to “necessary skills through the public education system.”
But the numbers indicate that women in leadership are up by 4 percent nearly hitting 27 percent. And the number of African-American employees in non-tech related positions hiked from 3 percent in 2015 to 5 percent in a recent release. But the stats for racial distribution reveal that Caucasians make up 52 percent; Asians account for 38 percent; Hispanics amount to 4 percent, and African-Americans at 2 percent. Bi or multi-racial demographics were recorded at 3 percent.
But William’s opinion, however, isn’t unanimous. Of those is Joelle Emerson, founder and CEO of Paradigm, a consulting company that advises tech companies on issues of inclusion and diversity. “I am kind of shocked that Facebook would continue to perpetuate a narrative that has been so thoroughly disproven by the data,” Emerson said.