Hiring discrimination
From Geek Feminism Wiki
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Although hiring discrimination on the basis of sex/gender is illegal in most developed countries, women often suffer overt or subtle discrimination when seeking work in technical fields.
[edit] Incidents
[edit] Solutions
See also Finding women
When you have a job opening:
- Explicitly state in your job advertisements that you welcome applications from members of minority groups and that you do not discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, religion, disabilities etc. (Even if such discrimination is illegal in your area anyway, stating it outright makes diverse applicants feel more welcome.)
- Consider whether telecommuting and part-time opportunities can be offered.
- Consider the implications carefully of hiring exclusively out of your geeky volunteer community. This is good for that community's health, but means you will inherit any diversity problems it has.
- Evaluate your hiring criteria and procedures carefully to make sure they are not emphasising "cultural fit" qualities that actually mean "very like us".
- Head hunt senior candidates as well as soliciting applications through advertisement.
- Advertise in women's geek groups (where allowed, many have job ad facilities).
- Actively monitor women's geek groups and consider their most active volunteers for roles.
- Offer small additional referral bonuses for diversity candidates.
- Since women geeks frequently have geek partners, consider how intra-office relationships can work in your organisation and establish fair, clear policy around it.
[edit] Resources
- Anita Borg Institute research studies
- Tips for Job Hunting at Grace hopper
- Practices for attracting and retaining technical women from NCWIT (National Center for Women & IT)
- Hiring Women - Geek Feminism Blog post requesting advice
