Apple employees speak publicly about recent hire who called women in Silicon Valley 'soft and weak' and 'full of s--t'

apple tim cook — Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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Apple employees are demanding an investigation into a "misogynistic" recent hire, The Verge reported.
They said Antonio García Martínez wrote "racist and sexist remarks" in his autobiography, "Chaos Monkey."
Multiple Apple employees have spoken publicly about the hire on social media.
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Apple employees are circulating a petition demanding an investigation into the company's hiring of Antonio García Martínez, citing his past comments about women and people of color, The Verge reported Wednesday.

The petition cited "misogynistic statements" in García Martínez's 2016 autobiography, "Chaos Monkey," according to The Verge, in which he writes: "Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of s--t."

"Given Mr. García Martínez's history of publishing overtly racist and sexist remarks about his former colleagues, we are concerned that his presence at Apple will contribute to an unsafe working environment for our colleagues who are at risk of public harassment and private bullying," the employees wrote, according to The Verge.

They also said Apple's hiring of García Martínez undermines its commitment to its stated values as well as its diversity and inclusion goals, and asked Apple to guarantee García Martínez won't be involved in "hiring, interviewing, or performance decisions."

Apple did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

In a rare show of public protest from Apple employees, several have taken to social media to criticize García Martínez's hiring.

"It's so exhausting being a woman in tech; sitting opposite men who think because of my gender, I am soft and weak and generally full of shit," one Apple engineer wrote on Twitter, referencing the quote from "Chaos Monkey."

"I have been gutted, as many other folks at Apple were, with the hiring of Antonio García Martínez," another engineer tweeted.

Apple and other large tech companies have made little progress increasing diversity among their ranks, despite years of public promises - particularly among technical and leadership roles, which tend to pay higher.

According to Apple's 2020 diversity report, 34% of employees were women, while women held just 24% of technical and 31% of leadership roles. In 2014, women made up 30% of the company and held 20% of technical and 28% of leadership roles.

In 2020, white employees made up 47% of the company overall but held 59% of leadership roles, compared to 55% overall and 64% of leadership roles in 2014.

In recent years, Apple employees, like those at other companies, have also filed lawsuits alleging racial and gender discrimination, as have suppliers.

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