Clinton talks diversity at eBay

Hillary Clinton made an appearance at a women’s summit hosted by eBay on Wednesday, arguing there is much work to be done on diversity in the technology industry, according to USA Today.  

Clinton’s appearance at the internal conference of eBay employees in San Jose, Calif., comes amid a simmering controversy over her use of a personal email account, connected to her own server, while at the State Department. 

The former secretary of State addressed the issue with reporters on Tuesday but the controversy did not come up during a speech and question-and-answer round at the eBay summit, according to the report. 

{mosads}“There’s never been a better time in history to be born female,” Clinton said, according to the report. “But, despite all the progress, the data shows we’re not there yet. In the tech industry, there are still barriers and biases that hold back women and minorities.”

The likely 2016 presidential candidate said diversity is smart for companies’ bottom line, in addition to being the right thing to do. The technology industry has long faced criticism about its lack of diversity, especially at the director level. 

A report late last year found that only about 10 percent of director positions in the top Silicon Valley companies are held by women, compared to about 21 percent for the top 100 overall companies. 

“If we apply Silicon Valley’s successful approach to the issues of gender and inequality, I’m sure we can make progress,” she said.

She said companies are “hardwired” to show a bias in favor of men and argued that “we have to go that extra mile to unwrap it.”