Google has fired an employee for writing a controversial memo that said biology prevents women from being as successful as men in the tech industry, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
James Damore, the Google engineer identified as the memo’s author, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes,” Bloomberg reported.
The 10-page anti-diversity memo was first reported by Motherboard and published in full by Gizmodo on Saturday.
The memo argued that men are biologically better fit to work in the tech industry and be leaders in the workplace and characterized Google’s gender equality efforts as misguided.
According to CNBC, Pichai added: “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.”
“Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace,” Pichai wrote in a memo to employees. “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.”
