[jkells]

You just need to increase the size of the funnel. If you were going to interview 100 people, interview 150.

It's not about lowering the bar it's about making the extra investment to achieve diversity. It's worth it.

[seppel]

> You just need to increase the size of the funnel. If you were going to interview 100 people, interview 150.

Then you are not in the "lowering the standards" part but in the "discriminating against men" part.

You cannot turn a 70/30 gender ratio into a 50/50 gender ratio without looking at the gender (Edit: When considering that all are all above the hiring bar).

[talltimtom]

“You cannot turn a 70/30 gender ratio into a 50/50”

Yes you can. As long as you are not hirering more than 60% of the Total available workforce.

[seppel]

My sentence did not end at the point. You cannot change the ratio without specifically looking at the gender, that is, specifically hire more of one group (because of their gender) and less of the other group (because of their gender).

[jkells]

Put another way if you spend 20k hiring and you get a 9/10 male developer you could spend $30k increase the size of the funnel and get a diverse hire of the same quality.

[throwawaygender]

I agree with this but the $30k could've also gotten hires of a higher quality ignoring gender considering the larger pipeline.

Also see my other reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18210856