Is Postive Discrimination just another form of discrimination?

Discrimination. The person best qualified for the position should get it, full stop.

by Vee

I think this is a band-aid solution for a much bigger problem.

Also, great question VerityG.

Thank you :)
It's something that bothers me!

The problem with this is that study after study shows that women are frequently the best suited for the job but they aren't hired owing to fears about their family commitments, fears they will distract other workers with their sexiness, and other stupid offensive reasons.

Exactly, so let us address those, shall we? Arh, it makes me so mad.

Because we don't have to put age/marital status, etc, on job applications, I've wondered if just by looking at my resume, what I've done, etc, that employers will wonder if I have a young family or will go off and have a baby soon after. They probably think I'm younger than my actual age, So I don't even get an interview anymore.

Yet they can't say this when asked for feedback so say 'there were more than enough qualified people who applied', etc, when that's the case for EVERY job now.

That is so incredibly annoying! At least that is something, I recently applied for a job that would have been perfect for me. They told me I should have filled out every section of the application - I did. Meticulously!

Yes, it is. I just totally hate people getting better opportunities just because they belong to a particular background. The person who deserves it should get it, no matter what background he/she is from, simple !

by BK

I'm not sure what I think about this. On the one hand, white males have had so many advantages for so long and women and ethnic minorities are so under-represented at a high level in pretty much every area you can think of, that I can see the point of positive discrimination and approve of what it is trying to achieve.

However, if I thought I had only got a job because of my gender, that would offend me as much as the thought that the only reason I had NOT got a job was because of my gender.

Tricky.

I really don't know what the answer is!

by VerityG

As a woman voter, I'd like the opportunity to vote for women in parliament! I think it's a step in the right direction to up the quota for hiring women. Women have been under represented for entirely too long. The argument that better qualified men will be overlooked is typically flawed. It assumes that it will be a regular problem, when it's actually quite an anomaly when we look at data on the subject. There ARE plenty of really awesome women, but they are overlooked at promotion time because men assume they're not as good at jobs, or they will have family commitments, that they won't cope when they have their period, and other utterly offensive and stupid stuff.

by meggf

Sorry, to add an actual answer lol NO!!!! It isn't discrimination, it's evening the playing field. Reverse discrimination doesn't work. Period.

I wasn't thinking about it from the point of view of men being discriminated against (I think that's what you mean by reverse discrimination?) but just from my own POV - I'm not sure I want to be at the receiving end of discrimination, whether it's positive or negative. I would like to be viewed as a person first and not as a woman, so discriminating in my favour because I'm a women seems demeaning.
But I do see that something needs to be done to get an even playing field.
Hence my question!

I have to agree with VerityG here.

I've been thinking about this for a few days now and I really don't know! On the one hand I'd be mortified if the only reason I got a job was because I have a vagina on the otherhand women are so under represented in many areas and it's not because they are less qualified. Tough one!

by lizzi

Quite! It's a real conundrum...