When it comes to diversity, tech's idealism keeps falling short

There's a mantra that gets tossed around in the tech industry: We want to change the world.

For true believers, it's the notion that companies can create products that improve the way we live, work and play -- blasting us into a better future.

But despite that idealism, Silicon Valley still faces a lack of diversity. And there's a notable disconnect between solution-oriented talking points and the pace at which companies are actually making workforces more inclusive.

When technology firms started publishing diversity reports, in 2014, the numbers revealed what many suspected: There are a lot of white guys in tech (and a dearth of women and minorities).

Major companies including Facebook, Apple, Google and Microsoft haven't cracked the 30 percent mark for women in technical positions, even though a report this year from the International Labour Organization says women account for 46.9 percent of the US workforce.

And we're not even sure how many of the women at these tech companies also fall into an underrepresented category in terms of race or ethnicity.

Since the first reports, the number of women and minorities at technology firms has changed little. Sometimes the numbers stay flat: From 2016 to 2017 Apple stayed at 32 percent women.

Sometimes they fall backward: In 2016, Microsoft lost a percentage point.

Most people agree there's more work to be done when it comes to disrupting the demographics of the tech industry.

There's also concern that this is a problem where tech just isn't applying itself.

"Companies still aren't really making the big leaps," said Alaina Percival, CEO of the organization Women Who Code.

The work so far has taken on a variety of forms. In 2015, Intel put $300 million into diversity efforts, including tying executive compensation to diversity goals.

IBM started its Tech Re-Entry program to bring back women who've left the industry.

In November, Apple unveiled an entrepreneur camp for women. On Monday, Microsoft pledged $10 million by 2020 to Code.org, a nonprofit focused on computer science education.

Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi said people are looking to tech in regard to the future of employment, and the diversity issue.

Assistance like Microsoft's can, he said, "systematically help change the education system to give every student a pathway to opportunity to get the jobs of the future, and also make sure diversity is baked in."

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