Madeleine M. Kunin Quotes

We've heard the excuses from those responsible for hiring that they don't want to take a chance on a new director. But the truth is that the industry hires new directors all the time; it's just that most of them are white males.

I don't know how one would define an affirmative-action hire. I ultimately do not know what role race played in my hiring.

The people in the decision-making positions need to be thinking differently about who to hire, and looking more unsparingly at their choices. Why give this person a break over that person? Why give this person a second chance over that person? I do think that's where gender comes into play.

I think it's worth putting energy into affirmative action in terms of having diversity in positions of power because the door was shut for so long.

The problem in business isn't that women are overlooked because they are women, it's that most people subconsciously look to employ a mini-me. It's not a gender issue, it's about diversification full stop. It's hard to change that mindset and it hits women particularly hard because men historically have always been the recruiters.

There is a privilege in American society to being male and being white, and I think it's hard for white males to understand that privilege, because we've never experienced the opposite. When I sought out mentors to try to move forward, there were white males in virtually every position from which I was seeking mentorship. There was a natural simpatico or natural comfort. And so if you believe that's true, and I believe it's true, then we have to change that. We have to try to equalize opportunity and privilege.

I am not in favour of quotas. Just put the best person into the job. It is not about gender; it is about experience, leadership and vision.

I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.

I'm always excited when I make it on anyone's list - even if it's for affirmative action. My attitude is, 'Am I the token woman on this list? Because I'll take it.'

It was a given at UCSB that if there was a role that called for a person of color, it was going to be handed to me. There were certain times when maybe I didn't try as hard. Going to Yale was a way more diverse experience.

In law, especially back in '95 when I was breaking in, it was much more of an old boys' network.

Advocating for affirmative action through the prism of diversity may be more politically palatable, but it will inevitably yield insufficient results.

I think it's embarrassing for our industry that we have such low diversity across senior-level management at all of the mainstream, top-tier venture capital firms.

If technology is designed mostly by white males, who make up roughly half our population, we're missing out on the innovation, solutions, and creativity that a broader pool of talent can bring to the table.

You are a much more forceful advocate against gender bias and wage inequality if you actually hire women. If you are a white man who advocates for change, then hire someone other than a white man as an example of that change.

I don't think quotas are necessarily an evil. I think when we look at industry in general back to the '60s and the '50s, the way more diverse people like my dad and mom's generation were able to break into industry was because of affirmation action, because of quotas.

Women in America work so hard and not all of them get their shot. And I feel like I worked hard, but I also got my opportunity, which puts in a different category of blessings.

I've always been a black woman in corporate America. I've faced my share of issues.

I was doing a lot of networking in the Valley, and I found that it was not a very diverse environment, and most of the conferences and meetup events I went to, there weren't many women or people of color in those rooms.

I do think that being a BAME actor does make it difficult to avoid stereotypes.

I believe women and minorities often wait for permission to be invited to something; we need to stop doing that.

The number of African Americans in Silicon Valley is dismal. It's not up to one company - it's up to the entire industry to make sure that we are moving the conversation forward. Sometimes those walls of competition need to come down so we can move the entire industry forward.

I've been working almost 20 years, and I think I've worked with maybe one black director of photography in that time. Maybe two women directors or DPs. Maybe. And I've done a lot of TV. That's a lot of people I've worked with.

When you surround yourself with white people, you continue to hire white people, and when you make an effort to hire people of color, that does bring in different stories and different people.

The last reason I want to be hired is because of my gender. I want to be hired because you trust me, because of my potential, because you believe that I know basketball, and we go and we build from there.