I don't think anyone is saying anything different from 50-50 is immoral but that anything different (in this case vastly different) than 50-50 deserves some attention.
I don't think announcing a policy of hiring 50% women is necessary. Like you said, it is 'almost certainly skewed due to gender biases' so the obvious way forward is to try to track down those biases and remove them from the process.
There is also some questions about how to make the workplace more attractive to certain employees and applicants. Putting policies and services in place to cater to those employees goes a bit beyond mere removal of bias but could help as well.
> anything different than 50-50 deserves some attention.
If what these researchers are saying about preferences is true you should be more suspicious of an exact 50-50 split than any other because it suggests that people are pulling the strings behind the scenes to make it so.
Well, the current research only shows weak tendencies that admit to wide variation. It shows what /is/ and /has been/ not what /could be/.
One thing that really bothered me about the memo is how Damore kept repeating that those he was speaking against believe /only/ culture and environment lead to differences. That he was more enlightened and believe that other things like biologically based preferences might have an effect too.
Well, of course, human beings are a complex interplay of biology and ecology and self-determination! The question is one of where the balance is when talking about individuals up to company size groups. I don't think anyone would argue against biology having some effect on behavior. But there are still open questions about where biology stops and environment begins; how much an effect can self-determination within and individual and the group can override those biological and environmental aspects to radically change outcomes (a distinguishing feature of human sapience is the ability to reflect and change, after all.)?
I am not saying Damore is lying but he sure chose what aspect of the truth to show very carefully which, in some ways, can be worse. It gives the veneer of reasonableness and logic but, in only showing part of the picture, hides the greater truths.
I don't think announcing a policy of hiring 50% women is necessary. Like you said, it is 'almost certainly skewed due to gender biases' so the obvious way forward is to try to track down those biases and remove them from the process.
There is also some questions about how to make the workplace more attractive to certain employees and applicants. Putting policies and services in place to cater to those employees goes a bit beyond mere removal of bias but could help as well.