Google fires employee who claimed men were better at tech jobs

Google bosses have fired a male engineer after he wrote an internal memo claiming there are biological causes behind gender inequality in the tech industry.

The document, which has been at the centre of a debate in Silicon Valley this week, blasted the web company's diversity policies and its politically correct corporate culture.

James Damore, the engineer behind the memo confirmed his dismissal yesterday, telling Reuters that he had been let go for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.”

He added that he would explore all his legal options and even revealed that prior to his dismissal, he had submitted a charge to the US National Labour Relations Board accusing Google of trying to shame him into silence.

"It's illegal to retaliate against an NLRB charge," he said.

It's not clear what legal actions, if any, Mr Damore could take, but Google have remained strong in their claim that portions of the memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace."

This sentiment was then echoced by Google's vice president of diversity, Danielle Brown, who sent a memo in response to the situation, saying the engineer's comments  "advanced incorrect assumptions about gender".