Latinos Are Still Left Behind in the Growing Tech Industry

There have been different reports published this year about the role of the Latino community in the U.S. job force in the years to come. In a previous report from Latin Post, it was found that 12 million Hispanics are now working in the U.S.

In the same article, it was also revealed that the growing population of Latinos and Hispanics play a very vital role in the U.S. economy, because they will help shape the future of the country together with immigrants. It is then suggested that these minority groups must not be left behind in terms of education and technology literacy. It is believed that working will be done through machines operated in the years to come.

Aside from education and technology literacy, the topmost important thing that every company must do is to let an employee feel a sense of belongingness. In a report from Cronkite News where a freelance software developer, Melissa Oritz, encountered situations where she felt uneasy but she knew the fact that the industry she chose exclude people like her.

In one of the biweekly meetups that are composed of 20 women, three women were there and she is the only Hispanic in the room. Ortiz felt nervous because she was joining a group of experienced colleagues. The gender gap and lack of ethnic and racial ethnicity also amplified her anxiety.

In one of the interviews, Ortiz said: "The white women were friendly, but I never actually felt like I belonged there and I felt so judged when they found out I was a mom to three kids. Because I was a young mother with multiple kids, it was like confirmation bias of me being that young, dumb Mexican girl who has a lot of kids and stays home and does nothing with her life. When I told them, there were gasps and 'Wows,' and someone said, 'I could never have that many kids and be able to do anything else.'"

In one of the events that Ortiz attended in August in Salt Lake City, Utah where its core theme is about diversity and inclusion, her expectations were not met. She said that it is very weird to attend an event for diversity scholarship where she only heard two Hispanic names.

The net employment of the tech industry in Arizona and has brought more than 280,000 jobs. Even during the employment shortage and great recession, the tech industry has increased its employment to 1.9 million jobs. However, behind the growing tech industry, it is still undeniable that people coming from different race especially women are still left behind.

Tech giant companies released a document called inclusion-exclusion. It was found out this year Google hired 59 percent white employees and only seven percent Hispanics. Meanwhile, in the 2018 report, Microsoft showed in their report that they hired 55 percent Whites and 6 percent, Hispanic employees. This gave us already an idea that it is indeed true that the chance of Hispanics and Latinos to be hired in the leading tech industry is very thin.

In a study released by UNESCO, they warned that the use of female voice as a default for smart devices perpetuates gender stereotypes. UNESCO also added that it face recognition most of the time misidentify black people.

Moreover, there are also organizations in Arizona where they value the employment of diversity. Some of these are the following:

• Startup Unidos that is founded by Stephanie Bermudez who wants to increase diversity within the tech industry and to foster binational entrepreneurship in the Arizona-Sonora area,
• Co+Hoots is founded by Jenny Poon who wants to create a new business that is led by women and people of different colors.
• Iconico founded by Luis Avila who foster diversity and innovation with organizations and community.

Avila said: "The people developing the technology are predominantly men, predominantly white and predominantly straight, so the creation of new technologies are informed by their experiences and not the communities that are most affected by the technology."