Behind Silicon Valley’s Self-Critical Tone on Diversity, a Lack of Progress

[Commentary] It is as if these large tech companies are all reading from the same public relations playbook, delivering slight variations on the same self-effacing message on diversity. But while they all seem to acknowledge that there is much improvement to be made, the repetition of the statements provides a reminder that there has been little progress so far.

Tech companies say that greatly increasing the diversity of their work forces cannot happen overnight because the pipeline of qualified candidates is not very diverse. But civil rights advocates say that is hardly an excuse for a lack of diversity companywide. The limited progress has left advocates for greater diversity pushing hard for more. But for now, little has changed. And for the foreseeable future, these tech companies are likely to keep delivering the same message: They have much more work to do.