Twitter sexism row sees company apologise for frat party

23 Jul 2015

A Twitter sexism row has erupted after a tweet appeared to show that one division of the company held a frat party that appeared to cement the culture of ‘brogramming’ in Silicon Valley.

The Twitter sexism row began after the Twitter handle @GlobalTechWomen was forwarded a tweet sent by one of its followers showing the frat boy set-up with beer pong and kegs that clearly offended the female members of this one team.

The hosting of a frat party, which is in its design a very male-orientated party, is hardly going to make Twitter’s image as a diverse company look particularly good considering its company gender make-up.

Based off its own previous report, Twitter is one of the most male-dominated workforces in tech with 90pc of its tech staff being male, while only 21pc of those in leadership positions are female.

The company also found itself in the firing line for gender discrimination issues back in March with one former employee taking the company to court over claims she was not promoted in her role as a software engineer because she was a woman.

With regard to this incident, it is believed that the frat party was held by the company’s revenue team.

Twitter issued a swift apology following the image generating serious traction on the site, with Twitter’s spokesperson Jim Prosser issuing this statement: “This social event organised by one team was in poor taste at best, and not reflective of the culture we are building here at Twitter. We’ve had discussions internally with the organising team, and they recognise that this theme was ill-chosen.”

Twitter buttons image via Garrett Heath/Flickr

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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