White? Male? Middle-class? Piss off then...

[Gob]

The Foreign Secretary was challenged to explain why his ­official work placement schemes specifically ban white, middle-class males from applying for the £367-a-week positions.

Under the tightly-drawn rules, only women, people from ethnic ­minorities and the ­disabled are ­entitled to apply for a chance to work at one of the great offices of state. The placements give students a head start in the battle to win ­coveted jobs in the diplomatic service and possibly rise through the ranks to become an ambassador.Only one category of non-minority male applicants stand a chance – those whose families are poor enough to entitle them to qualify for a full student maintenance grant.

The bizarre ‘middle-class male’ ban came to light after Tory MP Dominic Raab was contacted by an irate ­constituent who tried to obtain work experience at the department. Esher MP Mr Raab, an ­international lawyer who worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for six years, said last night: ‘I am raising this issue on behalf of a ­disappointed constituent barred from even applying for Foreign Office work experience because he did not fit the social quota criteria.

‘We surely need to scale back the unfair political correctness of the last Government. But we will not end discrimination in our society by introducing it through the back door, which is what positive discrimination like this does.’ Mr Raab has now written to Mr Hague asking him to intervene and review the work placement rules.

The Foreign Office, which employs 20,000 staff in the UK and around the world, operates three work ­placement schemes:
A summer development programme open to ‘talented individuals’ from black or ethnic minority backgrounds;
A summer placement scheme for ‘talented students’ with a registered disability; and
A university placement scheme open to female students, students from an ethnic minority background and students who come from a household with an income of £25,000 or lower.

Westminster sources last night said the programmes came about after Robin Cook, the former Labour Foreign Secretary, arrived at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s headquarters in Whitehall and was horrified to see so many former public schoolboys working there. Last night, the FCO insisted the schemes were legal and were designed to appeal to students who might not normally consider a career in the FCO.

A spokeswoman said: ‘This includes students from an ethnic minority background and those with a disability, as well as ­students who are in receipt of a full maintenance grant.’ The spokeswoman added: ‘People from these backgrounds are currently under-represented in the FCO.

'We believe that by having a more diverse and multicultural workforce the FCO is better able to represent British interests around the world.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0uemxK3cM

[Scooter]

And how many jobs do these three programs represent out of all the openings at the Foreign Office?

[Gob]

They are not really "jobs" but experiencial placements, they offer a stepping stone to the FO.

I don't know how many there are of them

Would one job for which a "no blacks" rule was applied be accepted? I think not...

[Scooter]

If there were a job where 95% of the incumbents and 95% of the applicants were black, when 60 or 70% of the potential pool were non-black, then something is wrong, and maybe it might take creating a small, dedicated application process for non-blacks to encourage them to apply.

[Gob]

True, and if my aunty had bollocks she'd be my uncle...

[Scooter]

You've never seen organizations that are a sea of white able bodied male faces, with the occasional token visible minority or woman? Perhaps you should get out more...

[Gob]

Oh I've seen loads of them, they don't justify discrimination against anyone though...

[rubato]

If the FO is primarily a club for white males who came from middle-class or better backgrounds then some form of affirmative action is justified to correct it. This particular program does seem so unbalanced that it isn't justified even then. If this program is a major route to a career in the FO then this amounts to total exclusion.

AA programs in hiring generally require that you hire an equally qualified minority not a less-qualified minority and I haven't heard of one which totally excluded white males. And it is only for jobs where there has been shown a consistent pattern of discrimination such as police and fire departments in the US or sometimes command level jobs within such departments.

A major problem for AA programs, even when they are well-designed and strongly justified by a history of discrimination, is that they violate a superficial std of 'fairness' and require significant time and education to understand. A further point is that they should all include a measureable set of conditions which will trigger their end.

yrs,
rubato

[@meric@nwom@n]

Well, if you are a white male tell them you wear women's underwear and that ought to get you some kind of discrimination protection.

[Gob]

Tell them I converted to Islam during my gender change, and wear a burka...