Google’s Pichai emphasizes importance of diversity

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai assured a gathering of girls that they can be successful entrepreneurs Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai assured a gathering of girls that they can be successful entrepreneurs Photo: Alan Diaz, Associated Press Photo: Alan Diaz, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Google’s Pichai emphasizes importance of diversity 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai spoke to a crowd of girls and young women in Mountain View on Thursday evening, assuring them that they can be successful entrepreneurs and are welcome at Google.

“I want you to know there is a place for you in this industry,” Pichai said. “There is a place for you at Google. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You belong here and we need you.”

Pichai spoke at an event honoring teams of girls and young women who competed in a Technovation challenge to create apps that address world issues like health and poverty. The candid remarks come after Google received criticism from some diversity advocates for not initially taking a strong stance against an employee’s memo that said men are more biologically prone to pursue careers in coding than women. Google recently fired that employee, James Damore, who has told media outlets that he is considering his legal options. In a note to employees this week, Pichai said, “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.”

In his remarks on Thursday, Pichai emphasized the importance of diversity and Google’s commitment to “building products for everyone in the world.” In order to do that well, Google must have staff that reflects that, he said.

Google and other tech companies have pushed to increase the number of women, blacks and Latinos in technical jobs. Damore in his memo questioned some of Google’s hiring practices and advocated that there needs to be more acceptance of different types of ideologies at Google.

On Thursday, several of the girls at the Technovation event were well aware of Damore’s memo.

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Christina Lee, 13, who participated in the Technovation challenge, said at first she was taken aback by what she heard about the memo, but after talking to some Google employees about it, she realized it was important to have that discussion about those issues and have an open mind.

But her teammate Ashni Sheth said while Damore was welcome to his opinions, she felt it important to not make generalizations. Statistics may show that women tend to go toward certain jobs that are more people-oriented, but “that’s only because that is what society tells us to do,” 12-year-old Ashni said.

“It’s not like it’s everyone’s choice necessarily,” she added.

Ashni, Christina and their teammate Talula Seale, all incoming 8th graders at Castilleja, an independent school in Palo Alto built an app that addresses the issue of gender inequality, creating a game that gives players awards for collecting graduation hats, representing pursuing higher education. Ashni said one day she hopes to pursue a career in the tech industry.

Her role model? Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Ashni said.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: WLee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee