[adsenseclient]

This has nothing to do with over-representation. In our small company, we have several female employees, including programmers. We consider all applicants purely based on their merits, minus potential problems- fear of future litigation in this case.

The fact that we are afraid to post this on the company blog, etc is simply the evidence of the diversity circus, that will speeds up selling the competitive American industry to China.

In the USSR, Cuba and North Korea you could not publicly say many things, which made its economy less competitive.

[danilocampos]

I don't care about your small company – in the broader world of technology, lack of gender diversity is a problem. And you chose not to hire someone because she cared passionately about addressing that problem.

That's fucked up, man.

> We consider all applicants purely based on their merits, minus potential problems- fear of future litigation in this case.

So you believe that if this person were terminated they would not be rational enough to know that it was about performance and not about gender.

And what would be the source of the presumption of such irrationality, I do wonder. Maybe you can fill us in!

> This will not earn you credit here: this is a hackers forum, not a government tribune.

Making sure I convey to you that your actions make you look like a dick is much more important to me than receiving "credit." And you're so obviously over-the-top wrong that anything more than ad-hominem is really just gilding the lily.

But since you mention it – my karma's doing fine.

[runarb]

I don't care about your small company

You may not care about his company, but the hiring manager should. Small companys are vulnerable so they have to be extremely careful when hiring. A bad higher can quickly become both expensive and stressful.

Remember a small company have no professorial hr department and internal legal counsel that can help reduce this kinds of risk.

I am not saying that this necessary is right, but it is easy to get forced into an decision that is less then ideal.

[danilocampos]

You're granting a premise I do not accept: that someone who cares about the cause of diversity in tech is therefore litigious. At best this is cowardice – the fear of someone willing to speak up for themselves. At worst it is misogyny – the conviction that a woman willing to speak up for herself and educated on the subject of diversity is ipso facto trouble.

Alternatively, it is a tacit admission of a sexist work environment or sexist behavior/perceptions from management.