Every now and again, we are confronted with some uncomfortable assessments of how equal our society is. A new government-backed report published today concluded that the gap between legislation designed to help race equality and social attitudes had become so great that women from ethnic minorities face accusations of rising to positions above their ability.
The research carried out by the Fawcett Society, on behalf of the Government’s equalities office, also found that the women faced professional “typecasting”, which saw companies attempt to funnel them towards roles involving equality and diversity, even in cases where their expertise clearly lay in other areas.
Private and voluntary organisations were given the best appraisal, with the women in the study believing them to be more progressive than the public sector. The political arena faired worst of all, with both tokenism and typecasting said to be at their most blatant at Westminster and in Britain’s town halls. The UK is yet to return its first Asian female MP, while only two black women currently have a seat in the House of Commons. When I spoke to one of them, Diane Abbot, she advocated a more radical measure to bring about changes. She said:
“When Labour boosted the number of female MPs after the 1997 election, we did so by using all-female lists. We need to adopt all-black and Asian female shortlists for selecting future candidates if we really want faster change.”
So, positive discrimination. But won’t that just make the gap between policy and practice wider, creating ever greater accusations of tokenism? The Fawcett Society report concludes by saying that parliament should set an example. What do you think?
Just what this country needs at the moment another reason to justify people's prejudices!
Positive discrimination doesn't work unless the candidate can be shown to be as good as if not better than a white candidate who is also applying for the job. Forcing less qualified people onto well qualified, who may have to carry them only increases tension in the workplace and to the loss of the better skilled who will move to other jobs.
It's just another form of "jobs for the boys" and is just as damaging.
Posted by: flipped | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 01:29 PM
'Positive discrimination' is racism and sexism by another name - as is 'positive action', the legal sneaky way of being racist against white people and sexist against men. This latter racism and sexism is legal in the UK.
If all white men were advantaged and all women and ethnic minorities were disadvantaged by environmental factors, then it may be OK to do this.
As it is, I have felt so bitter at being treated in such a racist and sexist way as a white man. In fact, that is why I became freelance and then set up my own business! To get away from the racism and sexism against me (it is rampant is all the PC professions, the media, esp the BBC, the education system, councils). I will never vote for a woman or an ethnic minority for this reason. Or emply any. It's called revenge.
The Fawcett society is a man-hating feminist organisation - so ignore them completely. Women and ethnics get jobs in diversity and equality 1) because white people and men are discriminated against 2) HR and Personnel departments are largely female (for whatever reason - I believe it's to do with nature - brain biology and evolution - not nurture). You see how the old termagents and harridens at the Fawcett all men are b****ards society twist things now? Know what - the equality commission has 75% female staff and 40% ethnic staff!!! I know, let's positively discriminate in favour of crap white people over bettr women and ethnics!!!! The opposite happens all the time now - and is justified with the weasel phrase 'reflecting the socity we live in'. OK. Do it. Sack the blacks and the women to 'reflect' our society. Pots and kettles.
Re Race - most black and asian people (and their parents) are from the lower social classes - so you will NEVER get more at the top unless you are racist against white peopel (what's happening) because of social class reasons - there are few white people from that background at the top too! If ethnics do well they get pressured to do medicine or accountancy - they are overrepresented in these fields - 45% of doctors are ethnic for F sake!!! So shall we sack some arnd replace them with whites to 'reflect the community we live in'????? Eh?
Re Women - men and women ahev different brains and talents and it is stupid (deliberately devious too) to promote the lie that every job and level of management should have 50% women in it. Read some Darwin. Read some Pinker. Women in general have the wrong brains and instincts for certain jobs. Also, all the dirty crappy jobs are mostly done by men -p by the Fawcett sisterhood only ever mentions the top jobs!!! I'd love to see more women sweeping streets and shoveling sh**. How about it girls?
There are so many women and ethnic minorities who use their gender and race to promote themselves and get an unfair advantage in their careers - playing that race and gender card which leads to people not believing women and black people are there through merit. Because many are not. Do you really think Baroness Scotland would have become leader of the house of lords if she were a white man? Trevor McDonald, Lenny Henry, Harriden Harman, The heads of the BBC - they ALL are there due to race and gender. NOT talent.
Well done the lot of you for destroying meritocracy and increasing support for the BNP - and destoring the lives of many young boys too. Shame on you all.
Posted by: Eddie | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 02:36 PM
This old lie again. There is no such thing as 'positive discrimination', just discrimination. Any form of discrimination will inevitably include a 'positive' element (in favour of the one to profit from discrimination) and a 'negative' element (to the detriment of the one to lose out by discrimination).
This ludicrous phrase has wormed its way into common parlance without adequate challenge and creates a great deceit, namely, that it is possible to have legitimate and sanctioned discrimination without it having a negative impact on someone somewhere. Discrimination FOR is equally discrimination AGAINST. It has to be.
This does not bring about equality, only bitterness, resentment and contempt for those who needed a 'leg-up' to get to be where they are.
As an immigrant myself, I am accutely aware of this.
Bad idea in my humble view.
Posted by: David | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 04:08 PM
Good idea. So we need to get more women in prison so that they reach parity with men? Kill off a few women so that men and women have equal life expectancies? Perhaps cause a few brain injuries so that equal numbers of men and women are austistic?
Posted by: Jenny Jones | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 04:27 PM
Good point Jenny. But feminists at the sexist Fawcett society (listened to far too much and promoted on the BBC all the time) never ever ever campaign for women to have equality for anything bad - they go tellingly quiet then! Essentially they want to pick and choose when women should have equality. Which is NOT equality! Let's have more women going to prison and losing custody of their children for example. All true feminists should resist their nonsense sexist campaigns.
David - I fear the battle re the phrase is lost. It is of course OFFICIALLY illegal to practice the perversion of 'positive discrimination' but it goes on so much! Ask the BBC or councils or political parties.
Postive action though is legal and just as spurious - giving 4th rate women and black people training places over better men and white people. As you say, discrimination is discrimination - and there is huge bitterness and anger out there.
Fortunately, I now work for myself so all the racism and sexism enforced by the stormtroopers of PC fascism does not affect me. But I pity their victims - all those men and white people discriminated against for their gender and race - as much as I would if those victims were women and ethnic people. As it is, many women and black people are already privileged - then use their race and gender to get even more advantage. Sick. Selfish. Disgusting.
And all women and black people shuld be concerned to - because even if they achieved through merit, people will not believe that if women and black people are given unfair advantage and special preference. This american idea should not have been adopted here.
Posted by: Eddie | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 05:07 PM
Perhaps we should have all-male shortlists too, in jobs where women dominate? TV production for example. The BBC. Teaching. Nursing.
And all white shortlists - for medical posts for example? Or chef jobs in indian restaurants. Or Sport. Or rap music.
Or perhaps people should realise that it is social class that means people get fewer advantages than those with money and connections - so we could have shortlists for MPs for people with neither parent involved in politics and with assets below £50 000, including property. This would ban lots of priviledged women and black people from applying.
Women will never get to the top as much as men due to biological reasons anyway. Nothing to do with sexism.
Posted by: Fingwattle | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 06:15 PM
A stronger government _specifically propped up to keep females and ethincs and their runty white male toadies(the real power) out of power forever_ is the solution to this.
The 'anti government /anti fascism thing' just invites more anti white male power structure to form (with all of its hypocritcal BS excuses), filling the power vaccum created by the best-white-male abdication.
(Also note that these hypocritcal BS excuses the anti-white-male government et al(academia etc) uses to legitimize and vendicate itself only work on christian [anti material reality/ anti 'darwinist'] types.)
Posted by: sean Maccloud | Monday, 19 May 2008 at 07:13 PM
I left British academia because of all this positive discrimination nonsense and (frankly) the brainwashing of our youth into accepting it.
I am now leaving the UK for a similar reason.
What is being done is nothing short of criminal.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, 17 August 2008 at 01:25 AM
Oh, and by the way - we will remember this.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, 17 August 2008 at 01:26 AM
democracy is being strangled by harriet harman.what other country has such law? any white male who gives her his vote at the next election is a traitor to his gender. this bigot should be booted out of parliment.
Posted by: brian fleming | Thursday, 06 November 2008 at 10:35 PM