Every year all firms in the United States with 100 or more employees are required by law to file form EEO-1, disclosing information about the gender and race of their workforce.
Companies can decide that they don’t want the breakdown made public, however, some high tech companies are refusing to even file the information, saying that it’s competitive information.
Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition have been attending shareholder meetings in Silicon Valley, where he has asked Google, Twitter, Apple, and Facebook to disclose this information that they are required to share with the government. Jackson is concerned about greater workforce diversity, especially since tech companies have been criticized for not hiring enough women and minorities and not placing them in execute positions.
Google has responded to Jackson’s request, saying they will publicly release the data. A statement released by Facebook simply says that they will likely release the data sometime in the future.
Jackson is quoted as saying, “Technology is supposed to be about inclusion, but sadly, patterns of exclusion remain the order of the day.”