<p><pre><code> "Subtle cues in the physical environment of companies such
as Star Trek posters and video games lead to women being
less interested in being a part of an organization when
compared to a neutral office environment."
</code></pre>
It also self selects for women who dig video games and Star Trek. Liking those things are geek things, not guy things and contrary to popular belief, women that like those things do exist. Furthermore, I'm certain that if you ask any male geek about the gender disparity in geek culture, I'm certain that near 100% of them lament about the lack of female geeks.<p>Women who show up in such an environment that don't relate with the culture aren't not relating because of their gender but because of their interests.<p>At some point in the founding of those companies the people there decided that they want their work environment to be as pleasant and fun as their home environment, after all you are spending 40-60 hours of your week there. That's a lot of your life. If that culture isn't your idea of fun, then you chose the wrong company to work for and should go work somewhere that does share your attitudes and beliefs or some soulless place that doesn't encourage employees to express themselves at work for fear of alienating anyone.<p>Dropbox is a desirable place to work at because of and not despite this culture. It's also desirable because there are a lot of smart people that are going to be successful in their careers. It's natural that many people, that despite their personal disinterest in the former (culture), might want to work at Dropbox because of the latter reason (success). Unfortunately, you don't get to pick and choose what parts of a company to accept. It was doing its thing before you arrive and no one has a right to establish their career at Dropbox without accepting most of the culture. Once there, you're welcome to try to change it, but doing so comes at the risk of being ejected from that culture because those working their may not like the changes you introduce.<p>Seriously, what give employee number 150 the right to reject and neutralize parts of the company culture that attracted the first 149 employees to work there in the first place? Don't like that? Boo-fucking-hoo. Start your own company or show up at a company early enough to influence the culture to be more to your liking.<p>I'm going to guess that those employees that left, complaining about the culture were not among the first 20 employees. If you're not among the first 10-40 employees at a large successful venture, you have no right to complain about culture because culture is always set by those that came before you. Don't like it? Then show up earlier.