Should sexuality be considered in affirmative action?

By Gwen on Thursday, February 17, 2011 - 22:06

What do you look for in a job? I ask because most people I know are still in the phase where you take on a job because you need money to fill some gaps your study loan can’t, and in fact I know some people who seem to switch jobs every two months or so.

These jobs are always about the same, and the lowest you can get in the corporate chain, where you either agree with what the boss tells you to do or you leave. That’s about as complicated as it gets.

If I project myself a couple of years into the future, the first thing that comes to mind is that I would want to have a job that I’ll enjoy. Because I’m in mainly the language business, one of the options I have already ruled out is translator, where you get sent the latest Swedish crime novel and have to translate it in a certain amount of time, at home. I don’t think I would be able to do that without someone to look over my shoulder and drag me to my desk. It shouldn’t be something I don’t want to get out of bed for in the morning.

© Slap Upside The Head

But then the second thing of course is, a job is a big part of your life. You’re probably going to spend a lot of time with the people on your work floor, you’re going to have water cooler moments and at some point all your female co-workers will pester you for all the details of your supposedly straight romantic endeavors. All at the same time, because that is what women do. (As that is what has been happening to me with people in school and university after a few weeks of getting to know a new group of people.) The other scenario is that they will circle around the topic until someone works up the courage to mention a possible girlfriend and then look at you nervously until you answer.

And although you can’t pick your co-workers, you can pick the companies you apply with. Do they have an inclusive hiring policy? Do they expect you to wear heels? Or, even worse, come Christmas do they expect you to wear Mrs Claus-themed uniforms? This happened to a friend who worked at the airport handing out flyers to travelers. She didn’t see any problems – “They pay me ten euros an hour”. (If this sounds naïve, her boyfriend lives in Norway, so she needs all the money she can get to fly back and forth.) For me, these would be reasons not to apply.

One company in the Netherlands went one step further than inclusive. They went specific. Instead of ‘commercial office manager, m/f’, they advertised looking for a ‘commercial office manager’, and added: ‘With equal abilities, we prefer someone gay.’ 

Why? “Most gays I know are very conscientious, driven, independent, helpful and still have enough testosterone to be assertive in a pleasant way and indicate what is feasible, and when.” On top of that, they are looking for diversity in the workplace, says Nono Schrader of consultancy firm ResetManagement.

Are you still with me? The first thing that bugs me about this is that apparently, only men can be ‘assertive in a pleasant way’, according to this female business manager. Because you need ‘enough’ testosterone. It’s true that it is never specifically said on their website that they are looking for a man, but in Dutch the word ‘homo’ usually doesn’t refer to women, and Schrader’s explanation certainly points that way. The second thing of course is that although she seems to think about gay people only in positive terms, it still sounds a bit like she is basing her decision on a set of stereotypes.