Reverse discrimination

[Evill_Bob]

It's the ever classic discriminate so you don't look like your discriminating. The token member of a group. Most free nations have some sort of system to encourage this, non-free nations either actively discriminate against certain groups or are simply don't give a shit as long as you do your job and kindly fuck off when they don't need you.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Do you think it's acceptable to use gender or race to determine who will get a job between two persons roughly equal otherwise ?

No it isn't.

And as your very own experience should tell you, even if you're on the recipient end of "reverse discrimination" (just thought I'd point out that it's just as much "discrimination" to give someone arbitrary benefits as it is to dish out arbitrary punishment) it doesn't really further your cause or acknowledge your skills, it just makes you look like someone who got an unfair advantage and pretty much everyone you interact with will think you did (which you can't really blame them for).

So what's happening is basically that the people who discriminate by giving unfair advantages to some based on gender, race, ethnicity etc. are doing something severely detrimental to these people's efforts and achievements.

 

[Flare Phoenix]

Call it what you want, disabled parking is discrimination.

Disabled parking is a reasonable accommodation, as if you don't designate spaces with a side to climb out then no disabled people have even the OPPORTUNITY to use said facilities as they can park their car but very likely either cannot get out or cannot get back in their car. But something like giving disabled free parking is NOT about accommodation, disabled aren't necessarily too poor to afford parking. Unless the ticket machine is at the top of a flight of stairs there is no reason they can't get a ticket themselves.

As I said before, I was no way suggesting disabled parking was bad and needed to be removed. In fact, at a shopping centre I go to down here, they changed some of the disabled parking into pram parking and I thought that was just wrong (not sure whether a disabled person can park in a pram parking).

My point was believing all discrimination to be bad is wrong. Think about it: if every disabled person turned around and said "you know what? I don't like the fact we have special parking. It's discrimination!" soon enough everyone would think it was discrimination and future generations would look back at us and go "what were those people thinking".

 

[aldt]

'Reverse discrimination' is a nonsensical phrase. If you're discriminated against for being female, that's discrimination. If you're discriminated against for being male, that's discrimination. If you reverse the discrimination involved in a situation, you still end up with discrimination.

 

[cathou]

This feels like a setup to me.

I can't help but think the OP is laughing at the other end of a screen at his/her successful Troll.

I highly doubt the boss would admit to it when questioned. And I'm not a grammar nazi, by any stretch of the imagination. But you seem to substitute words the same way someone who isn't a native English speaker would. And I'm assuming this job would involve a lot of typing.

But hypothetically, this is the kind of situation that sours me on this 'hire for quotas' policy that seems to have spread throughout the world. True 'equal opportunities' would simply take the best person for the job and completely disregard gender/race. There is not such thing as 'reverse' or the even more alarmingly named 'positive' discrimination. There's just discrimination.

i wont try to defend myself, since i dont really care that you believe me or not, but i just want to point out that, yes i am not a native english speaker, french is my first language. But also, i work in a french speaking company, in a city that is mostly french speaking, and our clients are 90% french speaking. my knowledge of the english language is totally irrelevant. as long as i can read english documentation, i'm good.

But how far are your prepared to go? Will you report your employer for discriminating against you colleage? Will you ask to have the decision reversed? Though of course I think the first thing you need to do is meet with your employer and be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of the situation, whether they employed you in guidance with company policy and discrimination laws but also public expectation.

You should honestly not be talking here, but talking to your employer and/or your union or whatever trade body would be appropriate.

we dont have any union or anything that defend employes right in our company. The owner of the company run this place like it was a 5 employe business. we have over 125 employes and the guy is still the only one who approve pay raise (often based on if he like you or not) and still approve every thing the company buys, even if it's just to choose what stapler we will get...

Anyway from what my boss told me, and by the way he's not my boss anymore since he's the direcotor of the sales department and he told me that in a private conversation while we were on lunch, at the end, they made the choice because i'm a girl, but it's not the only reason. they were hesitating between us already. that other guy dont have 10 years more experience than me, only a little more, but they think i'm more skilled that he his. if i were a guy, they might have choose him, but it's not 100% sure.

still, now i feel i got more the prove for deserving the job....

 

[DarkTenka]

Its discrimination .. but who cares? You got the job right?

If you really want to stop discrimination, your best bet (and every other in the same minority group) is to abuse the shit out of anyone willing to give you special treatment. Take everything they give you and dont give anything back, if the system is broken exploit it until it gets fixed. God knows trying to do the "right" thing will get you nowhere, thats life.

 

[Kinguendo]

Well, you are a woman... theres nothing you can do about it. Should you remain unemployed? Should people who dont have experience not be given a chance?

He only had experience because he was given a chance back when he had no experience, why should you not be given the same chance he has obviously already received?

 

[cainx10a]

Well, you are a woman... theres nothing you can do about it. Should you remain unemployed? Should people who dont have experience not be given a chance?

He only had experience because he was given a chance back when he had no experience, why should you not be given the same chance he has obviously already received?

Hear hear. While I certainly do admire your ability to feel awful about what transpired, life is usually cruel, and hopefully everything will pan out well for you at your job, earn the experience that so many college grad hope to get one day. Bonne chance dans la vie!

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I say yes... but pretty much any form of discrimination bothers me.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Holy shit, I love being a white male. I NEVER have to worry about shit like this. I never get hired because I'm white. I never get hired because I'm male. I get hired because I get shit done, or I don't get hired because I'm not qualified.

No employer is ever like:
"Hey, HR person! This white guy walked in and needs a job. What's our quota for white males? Shit, we're full to the brim with black and Hispanic women? We better hire this cracka!"

 

[Taham]

I personaly don't care about gender (no offence), so I would have gone with the more experienced worker. That said, you've got a diploma, and you were hired, so you've got to be good enough.

 

[Flare Phoenix]

In your story the guy has more experience than you, but the question is asking whether hiring policies based on gender, race, etc... is acceptable if the people have pretty much the same experience. There is quite a difference there.

First one (different experience levels): Of course not! The one with more experience should get the job.

Second one (same experience levels): Honestly, I don't see the problem here. If the company desires to show they are implementing diversity by hiring people with different genders and races it's just another criteria in the hiring process.

So would you be OK if a company didn't want to hire blacks or whites or Asians? If not, why not?

If a company didn't want to hire someone based on the colour of their skin, that would be discrimination. The problem is it's very easy to get around claims of discrimination in the hiring process. Often companies will have a very specific idea of the kind of person they want for the job. Let's say a company needs a new receptionist, and they decide they want a young attractive female. However if they only interview young attractive females, someone would be well within their right to call discrimination.

So a company would interview a few older women and men, who, even if they had the best qualifications and experience, have no chance in hell of ever getting the position. Now, if someone were to call discrimination, the company can simply say "well we interviewed a wide array of people and this is the one that we felt was most suited to the company".

As I said before, if two people come along with the same experience what are you supposed to use in determining who gets the job? If a problem the company has been having is they are getting claims they are being too rigid in staff they hire, the next person they hire being female would just be another criteria to them.

Let's face it, qualifications are pretty much the last thing that come into consideration when hiring something (alright, if you're going for like a doctor and you don't have necessary qualifications you have no chance in hell of getting the job obviously). If qualifactions were all that important, someone with the best qualifications would be able to rock up in an interview in their pajamas and still get the job. In fact, if qualifications meant anything, there wouldn't need to be the interview process at all. The person doing the hiring would be able to just look at each resume, determine who has the most qualifications, and hire them straight away.