[QUOTE=St@nley68;162408]I strongly disagree , this assumes we are all racist and/or sexist… It is NOT human nature !
I operated as a hiring manager for several years. You ALWAYS hire the best people that apply. They may not be the very best available , but they are the best that you or your company has attracted. When you as a company or corporation begin working off this “quota” system for the sake of another persons idea of “equality” you begin to weaken your company and will eventually destroy it from the inside out. You begin to put people into positions to fill a quota as opposed to putting the most qualified person in that position.[/QUOTE]
At least two errors here, first the assumption that there is no bias in hiring. Secondly the assumption that the only way to overcome bias in hiring is a “quota system”
As to the first error, no need to assume racist/ sexist, ordinary every day bias is more then sufficient to skew results, just google “bias in hiring”
This is from "You’re More Biased Then You Think. This is based on the science of human cognition.
From the article:
“Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We imagine we’re good decision makers, able to objectively size up a job candidate or a venture deal and reach a fair and rational conclusion that’s in our, and our organization’s, best interests,” writes Harvard University researcher Mahzarin Banaji in Harvard Business Review. "But more than two decades of research confirms that, in reality, most of us fall woefully short of our inflated self-perception."
The assumption that a so-called “quota system” is the only possible solution is incorrect. This is from the same article:
study through the Clayman Institute of Gender Studies at Stanford found that the number of women musicians in orchestras went up from 5% to 25% since the 1970s—a shift that happened when judges began auditioning musicians behind screens so that they could not see them. This isn’t to say that all interviews have to be done blind of course, but that refocusing on the skills that define a candidate can help eliminate biases we may be bringing with us to our decision-making.
Another implicit and incorrect assumption being made is that the only possible way increase the number of women at the work place is to lower standards The idea that everyone in the workplace today got there purely by merit is not even remotely plausible.