Tech giants including Salesforce, Apple and Yelp have been out front in their criticism of the new law in Indiana that allows businesses to discriminate against gay customers. That criticism is a good thing. Businesses have a role in not just selling things to people, but in doing good and in making sure that companies and the marketplace operate equitably. And it’s right that technology companies are leading the fight against the Indiana law, because tech is the most forward-looking of industries.

The industry’s outspokenness, though, came at an ironic time. One day after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff criticized the Indiana law, a jury ruled that well-known venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Byers & Caufield did not discriminate against former partner Ellen Pao because of her gender. Whatever you think of the merits of that case or the ruling, it publicized something widely recognized: Women are treated unfairly in the tech world. And it shows that when it comes to issues of social justice, tech businesses need to pay as much attention to the gender issues inside their own companies as they do to protecting the rights of gay people.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

…