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So what would you do.
Sep. 28th, 2007 10:06 pmToday'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.
(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.
