This week I was looking at a job posting connected to psychotherapy through a school board that a friend forwarded to me. At the bottom of the job posting this was listed:
{group} especially invites and welcomes applications from:
- Indigenous Peoples (e.g. First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples);
- Members of groups that commonly experience discrimination due to race, ancestry, colour, religion and/or spiritual beliefs, or place of origin; (e.g. Black and racialized communities, immigrant communities, etc.)
- Persons with visible and/or invisible (physical and/or mental) disabilities;
- Persons who identify as women; and
- Persons of marginalized sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. (i.e. Two-spirit and LGBTQIA+)
When you looked at this list, did you do what I did? “Hmmmm, that’s a lot of different people… that’s pretty much everyone except white, straight men who identify as male and don’t have a disability. So if I’m a white, straight man who identifies as a man, can I claim that I have a visible physical and/or mental disability? If I’m the only group not included in this list doesn’t that mean I have a handicap in its own right?
The truth is if you are on this list, you should be insulted (person reading message) “Wow, I can apply for this job I’m qualified for and was searching for online? I never would’ve thought of actually applying; I was just going to read it for fun because I’m apparently too dumb to have thought of applying on my own.”
If you read between the lines, the message of this list is pretty bad: If you are on this list, we think you’re so weak and pathetic you need us to tell you to apply; either way, we’re going to hire the white straight man, but by giving this list we don’t look bad OR we want to find the candidate we can use as a mascot to parade around to brag about how inclusive we are. You essentially get to be our shiny new toy that we use to hide our own prejudices and/or use you to attack others for not looking as inclusive as us. No matter how you look between the lines, all of the options I can think of are terrible. Maybe I’m missing something, but it doesn’t make sense to me.
The other way of looking at this list that includes everyone but men, there are also two main potential reasons: They are claiming men are superior, and they don’t need to be encouraged to apply because they are capable of doing that on their own OR men are scum so don’t bother applying. I could be wrong, but that doesn’t sound equitable?
I’m pretty sure in the future it will be made clear that people like the ones posting this job who are trying to seem inclusive are actually doing the very opposite of what they say they’re doing: (People doing the interview) “And after this we can go bowling and we’ll put up the bumpers because you’re clearly too incompetent to do normal bowling.” Do they think that listing people makes them appear inclusive? Listing specific groups actually makes them divisive as they’re causing people to be divided into groups: “I have three of these categories; does that make me extra qualified?” Maybe I’m missing something, but singling people out and/or excluding someone never brings equality; it creates discord and imbalance.
If you want to be inclusive, be straightforward and concise: “All qualified candidates will be considered,” or “We don’t discriminate because we’re not stupid or jerks.” If people or companies want to be inclusive, they should avoid any discriminatory language, which means not giving any specific categories.
Here’s the important truth: If you are qualified and want this job, you shouldn’t need a blurb to give you the confidence to apply. If you do, you don’t have the emotional maturity for a job like this.
I am a qualified candidate, but will I be applying? Not a chance. Would I recommend anyone else to apply? Not a chance. How can you trust an employer who thinks using discriminatory statements like this are a good thing? If someone like me is hired, they’ll have a giant target on their back because how could they hire the straight, white guy? If they hire someone else, how can they not fear being used as a show piece?
In a society where everyone is afraid of being backstabbed and screwed over, people are scrambling to cover their backsides. This is the result of being in a passive aggressive society – we don’t trust each other. And the people with the most distrust are the ones most likely to screw others over – we assume others will do what we do. This lack of trust is leading to bad choices that creates more hurt. On top of this, it used to be that people got into leadership to make a difference, but now it seems to be all about the money, status, and power. It’s a political game where the scharmiest and backstabbingest people rise to the top while the good people get burnt out and crushed. It’s like those who attack first and are the quickest to make accusations gain the power positions.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I believe we are all equal in our humanity and as a Christian, it goes one step further: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28) Maybe all of this is another example of what happens when we lose a foundation of faith in a God who teaches that we are all His children in society. Some Christians screwed this up in the past and used their Christian beliefs to oppress, but they missed the fundamental truth: we are all one in Christ Jesus… wait a second, does my being a Christian put me on the above list? Based on the definition yes, but I’m guessing that’s just a glitch in the listing because saying you’re a Christian has a tendency to scare a lot of people.
This week may we all consider how we might be acting like a hypocrite and change that.
Rev. Chad David, ChadDavid.ca, learning to love dumb people (like me)