Achieving Diversity In Entertainment & Technology

Achieving Diversity In Entertainment & Technology

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY AIMS TO ACHIEVE DIVERSITY

While there are certainly technology companies that are actively striving for greater inclusion and diversity, there is still undeniably great inequality in the technology industry. This industry is still dominated by white and Asian men, and Freada Kapor Klein, a partner with Kapor Capital and founder of the Level Play Field Institute, claims the tech industry are approaching diversity wrong. She states, “a hodgepodge of one-off efforts has wasted time and money and done little to increase the low numbers of women and underrepresented minorities.”

Not only are women and underrepresented minorities hired in lower numbers in this industry but they also leave tech at a much higher rate. Many claim there is a lack of progress overall in the tech industry and big changes need to take place before we can move towards equality. However, there are companies that are actively and consistently working on inclusion and diversity and are making considerable progress.

TIM COOK ON BEING THE FIRST OPENLY GAY CEO

One of these companies is, of course, Apple. Tim Cook become CEO of Apple in 2011 and was recognized by Fortune 500 in 2017 as being the first openly gay CEO. In a number of interviews explained that while he typically likes to keep his personal life separate from his professional life, he also acknowledges that his “desire for personal privacy has been holding [him] back from doing something more important.” In an interview with Bloomberg, Cook commented: