So what would you do.

[lonelybrit]

Today's payslip came with one of those anti-discrimination thingie questionnaires they're so fond of handing out. Main questions were:

(1) What is your ethnic origin.
(2) What is your religion.
(3) What is your sexual orientation.

Now with (1) I have no problem answering: I'm proud of where I come from and see no issue in other people knowing the family's origins. I find my box and tick it with no qualms.

With (2)... eh, a bit more touchy. It feels more personal, but then I'm increasingly unfussed about folks knowing this too, I've no real reason to hide it. Box ticked after a moment to shrug.

Number (3). Hmm, well my instinctive reaction was to find the box labelled 'F**k off'.

Except... well.

Firstly, having worked in HR for a bit where these kind of forms are processed, I know that it honestly is nothing more than statistics. Its aim is purely that the folks in charge can at a glance see that their workforce is looking a healthy cross-section of the local populace and there are no glaring misbalances. So, I could hold back, but then does that mean I'm hiding the real statistics from them, giving them a biased result? And, whilst my work is horrendously disorganised, I do trust them with these kind of stats in terms of proper use and anonymity. In short, I do believe they mean well, so should I be co-operating?

Secondly, should I be feeling the same way as I do about (1) and increasingly (2); isn't this kind of the open society we're supposed to be striving for? Aren't we meant to aiming for an environment where we can confirm our religion/sexual orientation with the same ease and confidence as we do when confirming our eye colour or favourite type of tea? Hmm.

So, to tick the box or not to tick the box. Hmm.

Comments

[flatlanddan.livejournal.com]

I struggle with something similar, though it my case it's national identity. In many ways moving to the UK felt like moving home for me. I know very little about what's going on in Canada and even the accent is fading a bit.

Will ticking the box make you feel more comfortable with the situation or not? Will you feel pride if you do? Shame if you don't? I'd like to think we live in a world were we can tick any box we'd like and the person reading it won't bat an eye.

[lonelybrit]

I'd like to think we live in a world were we can tick any box we'd like and the person reading it won't bat an eye.

Exactly. And ideally where these kind of questions are just a moot point and no longer required to be asked in the first place since they're so irrelevant. It's odd, a couple of years ago it seemed that 'the principle' was to not tick the box, silence was defiance. Yet somehow I'm now beginning to feel like that's changed, 'the principle' is to tick because if whoever reads it doesn't like it, it's their problem not yours.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Last time I got one of those forms, I didn't hand it back. No one ever chased me up about it.

[lonelybrit]

Yep, I've just ignored forms in the past, but for some reason this time it really niggles. I'd rather employers didn't feel the need to ask these kind of questions, but in this case I do believe they have the right intentions even if the route taken is a bit upfront. I guess we have to start somewhere.