At first glance, Apple has better workplace diversity statistics than many peers. But look at the numbers for technology employees and management—the people who have the most influence and the highest salaries within the companies—and consider the gender gap in each of these groups, and things start to get much more homogenous. Apple only slightly raises what’s a very low bar—which is something not lost on CEO Tim Cook.
Here are updated charts on several major Silicon Valley companies that have released comparable data on the ethnic and gender makeup of their employees. Note that due to differences in law around the world, gender statistics are for all employees worldwide, whereas ethnicity breakdowns are just from the US. Some may not sum to 100% because they included “other” or “undeclared” as an option.
Leadership by ethnicity
Leadership by gender
Technology by ethnicity
Technology by gender
Each of the companies has trumpeted numerous programs for boosting the number of diverse hires. While the goal is admirable, it’s worth noting that other companies have been releasing such data and promoting such programs for years, as Adrienne LaFrance points out at The Atlantic. Moving the dial is going to take something much more substantial.