Women make up a little over 50% of the population on this silly little planet. Many of us, the adults, anyway, wear makeup. Some men do as well, and some women decide to go without. Regardless, it’s safe to say that at least 50% of the population will wear makeup at one point in their lives, a giant majority of them will be women, and many will wear makeup every single day.
Still with me? Good, good.
So, if you were a large company, and, knowing that many if not most women will wear makeup at some point in their lives, you’d want to make sure that they can use your product too, right? After all, women aren’t a minority to be ignored, right?
Well, then, congrats! You have more sense than the overwhelmingly male leadership at Google. Because Google released the Pixel 4, a device with a face unlock feature much like the iPhone’s. Unlike the iPhone, most women won’t be able to use it, because it can’t recognize you if you wear makeup. Google didn’t think making sure women could use their devices was important.
Seriously, do they even have any women left at Google? After numerous sexual assault cases, siding with abusers, lawsuits, harassing abuse victims and protest organizers, and the largest walkouts in history, maybe they don’t.
No Women in Engineering? No Female Customers.
Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo
Let’s imagine there was a single woman in a position of authority at Google. Let’s pretend the head of Google’s Pixel team was a woman instead of a man. She picks up the new prototype phone and finds it doesn’t recognize her after she washes off her makeup. Google goes back to the drawing board. They release a product that works for 100% of the population. This is what would have happened if Google had enough women in management, in charge of engineering, product, or hardware design. It’s what would have happened if they cared about their employees of women in general.
But that’s not what happened.
Instead, Google released something that cuts out nearly half of their potential user base. Nearly half! Crippled sales right at the start.
What’s worse is that Google does have female employees. About 30% of Google’s employees are female. Perhaps they’re not in positions of power, but there are a few in engineering and, presumable, testing roles. These women surely tested the device and reported of its flaws to their superiors. What happened? Google released the Pixel 4 without the ability to recognize women and people who wear makeup anyway. Someone at Google didn’t think women were an important enough market while designing phones.
They realize we make up half the population and all have smartphones, right?
Who’s Reviewing this Junk?
Perhaps worst of all is the fact that I only heard about this today, almost a week after Google revealed the Pixel 4. Do tech news sites just not hire women either? Did they really just not give this phone to a woman until Engadget had the bright idea of letting a member of the fairer sex take a gander at the gadgets? Technology, in the hands of a woman? Could it be?
Who had ever heard of a woman running a tech news website anyway, am I right, lads?
So, because Google didn’t have enough women working on this, or, worse, had heard from women and chose to ignore them anyway, and because tech journalists are overwhelmingly men, around 50% of the population has been left out of a new device and may not have heard about it.
Just imagine the product guy who decided, sure, women can’t use this, but how many women are there, anyway? Looking around the Google offices, one can only conclude: not many.
The iPhone: A Perfect Opposite
Are all tech companies as bad as Google? No. In fact, Apple’s Face ID works with makeup, glasses, when you grow your beard out, and when you do all three. Have a drag persona that looks so different from your face that Face ID can’t recognize you? You can add a second appearance to Face ID so your phone will unlock no matter how you went outside today. Google’s Pixel 4 can’t do that.
Apple’s not only inclusive of women, they’re also thinking about guys who grow and shave beards, folks who do drag, Halloween, and much more. Apple’s inclusive of all genders and people. Google forgot women exist.
Sources:
- Cherlynn Low, Engadget
- Williams Pelegrin, Android Authority