A minority advocacy organization has asked the US Federal Communications Commission to address the tech industry’s “abysmal failure” to employ African-Americans, Hispanics and women.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (full disclosure: I am on its board) said the technology sector’s “troubling” employment practices hurts the FCC’s ability to follow congressional directives to “regulate EEO and promote employment and ownership diversity.”
Specifically, in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and all four FCC members, the group asks the FCC to have its Diversity Committee investigate the employment disparity and determine to what extent, if at all, tech companies “recruit on campuses with high minority enrollments, actively mentor minorities for careers in the technology sector, and select diverse candidates who are U.S. citizens or residents.”
MMTC points to the fact that in the near future most media jobs will be more like tech jobs than traditional TV/radio production, advertising sales, and on-air jobs the group usually advocates on behalf of. Further, given media convergence, diversity within the tech sector will increasingly fall within FCC EEO authority, MMTC said.
“The digital divide cannot be closed when a sixth of the economy so profoundly and uniformly excludes African Americans, Latinos and women from equal employment opportunity,” the letter stated.
Thoughts?
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
