Some Tech Companies Are Trying Affirmative Action Hiring—But Don't Call It That

Tracy Chou wrote a post on Medium in October 2013, challenging tech companies to tell the world what percentage of their software engineers were women. Surprisingly, it worked: Google, Apple, Facebook and others published their lopsided race and gender statistics, and Chou, then a Pinterest software engineer, became a face of the tech diversity movement. Pinterest positioned itself as a company working hard to hire more women as well as black and Latino workers. In 2015, the company made an unprecedented move: It published a set of diversity-focused hiring goals. It would strive to make 30 percent of its engineering hires women, and it would report on its progress in a year.

Sixteen months later, Pinterest retreated. Despite all its efforts, only 22 percent of its new engineers were women, and in response, the company lowered its goal for next year from 30 percent to 25 percent. It had hit and exceeded its targets in two other categories -- making 8 percent of its engineering hires under-represented ethnic minorities, for example. Pinterest said it missed its women in engineering goal because it focused on hiring more senior women, which takes longer. But its admission that it had missed its mark and would lower expectations was a disappointment. “Obviously we were all hoping it would be better and closer to 30 percent,” said Chou, who left the company in June. Pinterest's head of diversity, Candice Morgan, said the company sets goals that are challenging and that it thinks it has a 70 percent chance of reaching.