Diversity in startups is challenging

<p>While larger institutions have the ability to institute policies and have resources to <a class="wikilink" href="/foster_diversity_in_companies/">foster diversity in companies</a>, <a class="wikilink" href="/startup/">startups</a> struggle. Of the <a class="wikilink" href="/literature/202304141541_diversity_efforts_that_work/">efforts that seem to work</a>, the only thing that a startup can do is test for biased technology, while the others work at larger scales. </p> <p>Startups can't always wait long enough to increase the diversity pool of candidates applying to a position, nor have enough visibility to increase their reach when seeking for new colleagues. </p> <p>However, the pattern that repeats in startups is that they are highly flexible and challenging environments, which should lead to an immediate <a class="wikilink" href="/learning_environment/">learning environment</a>, and <a class="wikilink" href="/literature/202304141533_learning_environments_foster_diversity/">learning environments foster diversity</a>. However, if I see the composition of the companies around me, most are very male-dominated, even those where there's more than a statistical number of people working at them. </p> <p>The metric that I always use to judge is the <a class="wikilink" href="/gender_unbalance/">gender unbalance</a>, because it is very visible and very binary. Adding other dimensions, especially in a context where there's a large population of immigrants is very challenging. </p> <p>But challenging does not mean impossible. There are <a class="wikilink" href="/things_i_try_to_increase_diversity/">things I try to increase diversity</a> at <a class="wikilink" href="/dispertech/">Dispertech</a>, although not to much success.</p>