It’s hard to imagine that an organizing team would fail to see the implications of throwing a frat party (complete with Solo cups, a “Twitter Frat House” sign, and a Twitter beer pong set), unless the company’s overall culture enabled that kind of implicit sexism.
Advertisement
This was an embarrassing and careless move by Twitter, especially given the situation the company is in – the fight with a class-act lawsuit charging for gender discrimination within the company.
Twitter has since apologized for the party as spokesman Jim Prosser told Fusion, “This social event organized by one team was in poor taste at best, and not reflective of the culture we are building here at Twitter”.
“We are keenly aware that Twitter is part of an industry that is marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity – and we are no exception”, Twitter vice president of diversity and inclusion Janet Van Huysse wrote with the release of those numbers last year, detailing the company’s commitment to partnering with groups such as Girls Who Code and sf.girls that are dedicated to including more females in tech.
While Prosser said he couldn’t confirm what team threw the event, Fusion reported that the party was hosted by Twitter’s revenue team.
Fraternity parties, mostly known as frat parties, are usually organised by young college students to meet new people and have fun. Women make up less than a third of all Twitter employees – only 10 percent in tech jobs – and hold 21 percent of management positions, according to the company’s 2014 diversity report.
Twitter is wrestling with a diversity problem common among major technology companies: Too few women and minorities are represented in its ranks and leadership.
Advertisement
Twitter are now engaged in a sexual discrimination lawsuit in the US, with a female employee claiming that their promotion process unfairly favours men. Ex-Facebook employee Chia Hong also filed a lawsuit alleging that she was discriminated against and harassed because of her gender and Taiwanese descent.
