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.[1] [2]
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.[3] [4] 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.[5]