Twitter admits to diversity problem

Twitter's diversity report is out.

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter says it has been hiring too many white and Asian men to fill high-paying technology jobs, just like several other major companies in Silicon Valley.

The lack of diversity in Twitter's workforce of roughly 3000 was detailed in data released by the San Francisco company behind the popular short messaging service on Wednesday US time.

The breakdown revealed 70 per cent of Twitter's worldwide workforce is comprised of men.

In the US, nearly 90 per cent of Twitter's workers are either white or Asian. Racial data wasn't provided for the global workforce.

Things look even worse for computer programming positions and other technology jobs that tend to pay the highest salaries.

Just 10 per cent of those jobs are held by women worldwide. More than 90 per cent of Twitter's technology jobs in the US are being handled by whites and Asians.

Twitter's scarcity of women, black and Latino workers mirrors similar situations at Google, Facebook, Yahoo and LinkedIn.

Facebook released its results last month and they did not reflect its user base.

All of those companies have released their diversity data since late May in response to a campaign led by the civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH coalition.

Jackson has spent much of this year pressuring major Silicon Valley companies to diversify their workforces because the booming technology industry is expected to be a major source of employment for years to come.

Many of those jobs pay high salaries and give out stock options that can become worth millions of dollars.

In a statement, Jackson lambasted Twitter's diversity numbers as 'pathetic' but called the disclosure of the problem a 'step in the right direction'.

Twitter vowed to change its ways.

'We are keenly aware that Twitter is part of an industry that is marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity,' Janet Van Huysse, the company's vice president of diversity and inclusion, wrote in a blog post.

Like some other technology companies, Twitter is supporting programs that teach women how to program computers and introducing internal training programs aiming to eliminate biases.

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