I don't see how 12 hour shifts in a factory to attach bevelled screens to an iPhone has any relationship to women in "tech" job (engineering & technical marketing). People in those roles are very well paid and voluntarily put in 24 hour "shifts" when the situation calls for it. The summary seems to be comparing the doctor to the orderly. Every single time "diversity in technology" comes up, someone mischaracterizes it, then someone else draws a parallel to their own hot issue that is more or less orthogonal.
I'm going to say it again: Fuck China, Fuck Chinese Workers, they are not OUR problem. I don't agree with how they live their lives, or how their government fails to protect them, or how they set themselves up for abuse. They should be rioting in the streets, setting fires to buildings, murdering their bosses, overthrowing their corrupt government, whatever it takes. But I have no vote, and no say in their government, and my own country refuses to enact laws that would prohibit american companies (or purveyors of products sold in america) from engaging China on terms that we would tolerate in our own country. Until such time as laws are created and enforced, it is a purely stupid statement to blame Apple, or any other company, for abusing the Chinese workforce. If the law says it is ok, it will be done, those not doing it will lose money and be run out of business.
On an entirely unrelated note of women in technology (R&D/software dev/hardware design/electrical or integration testing), Cook is probably right in that there are things keeping women and minorities out of technology. Those things might be perception based (i.e. not fun, being the one woman for 15 men, etc.), but in my opinion are probably a combination of: elitist hiring practices, unsustainable working hours for family-minded engineers, and to some degree isolation. I can't say how many competent people I've seen turned down for jobs in my life, but it's a large number, they simply weren't the very best. My opinion is that it may be difficult for women and minorities to get through this, as they are likely not raised and surrounded by the community required to produce success. There are a lot of things wrong within the engineering community with respect to hiring practices that are self-defeating. One of them is that by excluding so many qualified people, we implicitly encourage H-1Bs and offshoring, and we implicitly discourage women & minorities from entering the field. We make it worse by being willing to work 12+ hour shifts, leaving the kids homes for our wives or SOs to take care of, for no extra pay and very little equity in the final product.