Dave rule

{{Short description|Silicon Valley inside joke about the workplace gender gap}}

{{for|the Belgian-French mathematical physicist|David Ruelle}}

The Dave rule is an inside joke in Silicon Valley startup culture that posits that if a work team includes as many women as it does people named Dave, it has achieved acceptable gender balance. The joke is a reference to Silicon Valley's infamous gender gap.{{cite news|last1=Kaminska|first1=Izabella|title=Since you asked: the tech industry and its problem with women|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6a83b1c-be6f-11e4-8036-00144feab7de.html|accessdate=20 December 2015|publisher=Financial Times|date=27 February 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Dave|title=Women Are Vastly Underrepresented In The Tech Sector|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-women-are-vastly-underrepresented-in-the-tech-sector-2014-8|accessdate=20 December 2015|issue=14 August 2014|publisher=Business Insider}}

The concept was in use in the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science under the name "Dave-to-girl ratio" or "Dave-to-female ratio" at least as early as 1999.{{cite web |last1=Lenore |first1=Blum |title=Women in Computer Science: The Carnegie Mellon Experience |url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/Web/People/lblum/PAPERS/women_in_computer_science.pdf |website=Women@SCS |publisher=Carnegie Mellon University |access-date=3 March 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Hafner |first1=Katie |title=An Imbalance; Casting a Wider Net to Attract Computing Women |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/technology/an-imbalance-casting-a-wider-net-to-attract-computing-women.html |access-date=3 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=22 May 2003}} It was first documented in Silicon Valley, which employs many Carnegie Mellon SCS alumni, under the name "Dave rule" in 2014 by Guardian newspaper correspondent Rory Carroll in an article about a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against dating application startup Tinder by a female former executive.{{cite news|last1=Carroll|first1=Rory|title=Sexism in Silicon Valley: Tinder, the 'Dave rule' and tech's glass ceiling|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/02/silicon-valley-sexism-tinder-culture-women-ageism|accessdate=20 December 2015|publisher=Guardian|date=2 July 2014}}