A Google Inc. software engineer has created a furor after disseminating an antidiversity manifesto, in which he criticizes the company for being an “ideological echo-chamber.”

The memo accuses Google of discrimination for its attempt to level the playing field and assert gender and race equality within the company. The employee writes that Google embraces biases regarding initiatives amounting to “special treatment” for diversity candidates. The missive also attempts to explain what the Googler views inherent biological differences in men and women.

Gizmodo got hold of the full 10-page memo, with the following statement seeming to rankle people the most: “I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.”

Google, a company that last year was accused of systemic pay inequality for women by the U.S. Department of Labor, issued a response to the memo. Danielle Brown, Google’s vice president of diversity, integrity and governance, wrote that the memo contained “incorrect assumptions about gender,” a view other critics of the manifesto also noted. Brown disagreed with the letter, which accuses Google of being left-leaning and oppressive towards views that go against a left ideology, but said those views must adhere to “Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.”

Google employees for the most part responded with animus, with one employee writing on Twitter: “Today’s rage-read (at work): doc essentially saying that women are unsuited for tech because they like people, whilst men like things.” A former engineer at Google told Motherboard that he thought there was some “push-back” from male employees who felt that diversity initiatives were “lowering the bar” at the company.

According to Motherboard, the writer of the memo was “emboldened” by some of the more positive responses he received regarding the memo, but so far the letter has provoked widespread dismay. The Atlantic said such a letter was indicative of tech’s “rotten core” while the writer’s entreaty to people show some sympathy towards dissenting conservatives doesn’t seem to have resulted in too many sympathetic responses – from the media at least.

That might be because as well as outlining gender roles, the employee also makes sweeping statements, such as “Conservatives tend to be higher in conscientiousness.” But the furor over the memo indicates once again that tech has more to do to address widespread discrimination against women.

Image: Jan Pěček via Flickr