It looks like the Silicon Valley has a long way to go before it is an inclusive environment for everyone. In fact, a recent report from Mic exposes a number of emails highlighting how bad things have fared for at least some women who work at Apple.
Unfortunately, while Apple and other large tech companies say they are working on being a little more inclusive of everyone, women make up 32 percent of Apple’s workforce and some of the emails suggest they are subjected to sexist treatment.
For example, a female engineer details a situation when a male-dominated team of engineers made jokes about an intruder coming into the office to “rape everyone.” The engineer sent an email to CEO Tim Cook but she never got a reply. However, Cook did make a few headlines about responding to emails to complete strangers. In another case, a meeting composed of all men, save for one woman, turned to the men stereotyping women as nags and complaining about their significant others. The manager in the situation did not make any attempt to change the course of the conversation. That same person was later told to “smile” as the walked to the break room.
“While this is a small thing, it was notable as this is one of the most commonly reported forms of subtle sexism,” the female engineer said in the Mic report.
These concerns are not unique to female employees. A male employee spoke to Mic about the work environment and went as far as to make a complaint to Cook. The employee reported that co-workers made comments about him having his “man period” to insinuate he was overly emotional.
An Apple spokesperson commented in the Mic report by saying the company takes the complaints seriously but that it would not comment on specific incidents. Digital Trends has reached out to Apple and will update this story with its reply.
