Facebook on Diversity: Slow Progress, More to Do

Facebook’s 2016 diversity update continued a familiar theme: slow progress and the understanding that more needs to be done.

Facebook’s 2016 diversity update continued a familiar theme: slow progress and the understanding that more needs to be done.

Maxine Williams, the social network’s global director of diversity, said in a Newsroom post that while Facebook’s senior leadership is currently 3 percent African American, 3 percent Hispanic and 27 percent female, its hires over the past 12 months have equaled 9 percent, 5 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Facebook also released LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) data for the first time, saying that 61 percent of its employees responded to a voluntary survey about sexual orientation and gender identity and, of that group, 7 percent identified themselves as LGBTQ.

As for what the company is doing to help speed the process of diversity, Williams noted that Facebook committed $15 million to Code.org,

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