Contentious Memo Strikes Nerve Inside Google and Out<br />He said efforts by the company to reach equal representation of women in technology and leadership were “unfair, divisive, and bad for business.”<br />The memo was originally posted on an internal mailing list and was shared widely inside the company and throughout Silicon Valley.<br />Google fired Mr. Damore on Monday and said that he had violated the company’s rules by “advancing harmful gender stereotypes.”<br />In a short email exchange on Monday after his firing, Mr. Damore, who was a senior software engineer in Google’s<br />search division, said he had not expected this type of reaction when he shared his missive last week.<br />His 10-page memo, titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” argued<br />that “personality differences” between men and women — like a woman having a lower tolerance for stress — help explain why there were fewer women in engineering and leadership roles at the company.<br />Megan Smith, a former vice president at Google who recently served as the chief technology officer for the United<br />States under President Barack Obama, said the views promoted by Mr. Damore were common in Silicon Valley.<br />That initial assessment of Google seemed far removed from the contentious memo written by the 28-year-old Mr. Damore last week<br />that has enraged advocates of greater diversity in the technology industry.<br />The department has not charged Google with any wrongdoing, but a department official said there was evidence<br />that the company systematically paid women less than men.
