Comments on: What’s in a name? http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:02:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: cheap lolita cosplay http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-9998 cheap lolita cosplay Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:17:48 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-9998 Just want to say what a great blog you got here!I've been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work! Just want to say what a great blog you got here!I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!

]]> By: Clegg signals success for Lynne Featherstone’s name-blank employment campaign http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-8767 Clegg signals success for Lynne Featherstone’s name-blank employment campaign Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:42:39 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-8767 [...] Lynne explained in a newspaper column back in 2009 the logic is this – blanking out names on job applications would remove subconscious [...] [...] Lynne explained in a newspaper column back in 2009 the logic is this – blanking out names on job applications would remove subconscious [...]

]]> By: Race Equality and the Liberal Democrats | Mark Pack http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2983 Race Equality and the Liberal Democrats | Mark Pack Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:32:47 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2983 [...] answers include the name-blank employment policy pioneered by Lynne (to avoid subconscious bias at early stages in the recruitment process) and are laid out in the [...] [...] answers include the name-blank employment policy pioneered by Lynne (to avoid subconscious bias at early stages in the recruitment process) and are laid out in the [...]

]]> By: Lynne Featherstone MP http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2080 Lynne Featherstone MP Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:14:39 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2080 Dreamingspire - if you read what I have written you will see I make exactly that point - that my interns were fine because they could put that they were working for an MP on their applications forms and this was why they suddenly started getting interviews and jobs - contrasted with before when they didn.t. Dreamingspire – if you read what I have written you will see I make exactly that point – that my interns were fine because they could put that they were working for an MP on their applications forms and this was why they suddenly started getting interviews and jobs – contrasted with before when they didn.t.

]]> By: dreamingspire http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2079 dreamingspire Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:22:44 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2079 How often do we hear that job vacancies require candidates to have prior relevant experience? The simple fact of being an intern in a well respected MP's office would, I suggest, have a lot of influence on the selection panel. Your comment, Lynne, is rather too subjective. How often do we hear that job vacancies require candidates to have prior relevant experience? The simple fact of being an intern in a well respected MP's office would, I suggest, have a lot of influence on the selection panel. Your comment, Lynne, is rather too subjective.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2078 Anonymous Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:37:43 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2078 I think it is a quite fantastic idea - it's a total contrast to most of Lynne's other musings on the subject.<br /><br />Anonymous applications would put a stop to genuine discrimination and give people much more chance of equal opportunities in the workplace.<br /><br /><br />Lynne's scheme wouldn't just put a stop to discrimination by BNP sympathising employers or just misogynistic men as Lynee seems to be suggesting. It would equally hamper racist ethnic minorities employers (eg those on Bristol council who think only white people can be racist) and it would also help to stop sexism by militant feminists (Patricia Hewitt comes to mind as she was of course found guilty of sex discrimination a while back).<br /><br />One study in this area I noticed Lynne has not cited is the one by Portsmouth Businesss school which also sent out large numbers of fake applications.<br /><br />Whilst they found significant discrimination against women in engineering posts, there was also a great deal of discrimination against men who applied for accountancy, computer analyst and secretarial roles.<br /><br />Perhaps Lynne has kept this one quiet because she knows that if Baird found out the scheme might actually help men too and actually mean even female candidates had to be selected on merit then she'd dismiss it instantly and probably try to make it illegal!<br /><br />People like Baird really aren't interested in equal opportunities, they just want equal outcomes regardless of the consequences where people can be employeed soley due to their ethnicity/gender rather than merit or suitability for the task. I think perhaps in Baird's bizarre world, equal opportunites and equal outcomes are somehow exactly the same thing! I think it is a quite fantastic idea – it's a total contrast to most of Lynne's other musings on the subject.

Anonymous applications would put a stop to genuine discrimination and give people much more chance of equal opportunities in the workplace.

Lynne's scheme wouldn't just put a stop to discrimination by BNP sympathising employers or just misogynistic men as Lynee seems to be suggesting. It would equally hamper racist ethnic minorities employers (eg those on Bristol council who think only white people can be racist) and it would also help to stop sexism by militant feminists (Patricia Hewitt comes to mind as she was of course found guilty of sex discrimination a while back).

One study in this area I noticed Lynne has not cited is the one by Portsmouth Businesss school which also sent out large numbers of fake applications.

Whilst they found significant discrimination against women in engineering posts, there was also a great deal of discrimination against men who applied for accountancy, computer analyst and secretarial roles.

Perhaps Lynne has kept this one quiet because she knows that if Baird found out the scheme might actually help men too and actually mean even female candidates had to be selected on merit then she'd dismiss it instantly and probably try to make it illegal!

People like Baird really aren't interested in equal opportunities, they just want equal outcomes regardless of the consequences where people can be employeed soley due to their ethnicity/gender rather than merit or suitability for the task. I think perhaps in Baird's bizarre world, equal opportunites and equal outcomes are somehow exactly the same thing!

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2077 Anonymous Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:48:57 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2077 okay the person gets to the interveiw then his interveiwer prefers somone from the same type tribe colour ect. what then .also all races do it . human nature is basicly like that.they employ cousins aunties same tribe and its across the board all races do it. some are above such sillyness but most are not. okay the person gets to the interveiw then his interveiwer prefers somone from the same type tribe colour ect. what then .also all races do it . human nature is basicly like that.they employ cousins aunties same tribe and its across the board all races do it. some are above such sillyness but most are not.

]]> By: Alan J Williams http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2076 Alan J Williams Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:15:18 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2076 Hi Lynne,<br />Just read your piece on What's in a name. Brilliant. If this improvement can be made it will remove quite a stain on our reputation for fairness.<br />All the best,<br />Alan J Williams Hi Lynne,
Just read your piece on What's in a name. Brilliant. If this improvement can be made it will remove quite a stain on our reputation for fairness.
All the best,
Alan J Williams

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2075 Anonymous Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:41:08 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2075 Equality based on CV....in the arts council I was finally employed by working my way up slowly but surely. There I met people who had got in on a CV - Oxford/CaMBRIDGE, INTERNSHIPS with auntie/or a pal of ...and frankly the CV is an indication of how 'class'is now replaced by "money". So had I got a scholarship to a private girls school I would be in a better job, and so when I worked for managers who had got jobs on this basis and managers who were political appointments such as black and minority ethnic specialists, for example, the overriding issue of how well and apt someone is to do a job was then based on who daddy knew and whether the minister was David Lammy, a strong advocate of equality based on race (as opposed to gender/disability/social class/ age) at the time. The personnel managers are employed to give the job to whoever their manager wants, and so on paper you will see nothing but over a period of ten years you will see a workforce/contractors/consultants change to whichever managers agenda. I think the Blairite world is too based on 'preference' to the CV and not to experience for doing a job - for your blank CV to have any relationship to 'equality'. Just look at the BBC - obsessing about being "hideously white" but not "hideously middleclass and rich mostly public school boy yuppies". Equality based on CV….in the arts council I was finally employed by working my way up slowly but surely. There I met people who had got in on a CV – Oxford/CaMBRIDGE, INTERNSHIPS with auntie/or a pal of …and frankly the CV is an indication of how 'class'is now replaced by "money". So had I got a scholarship to a private girls school I would be in a better job, and so when I worked for managers who had got jobs on this basis and managers who were political appointments such as black and minority ethnic specialists, for example, the overriding issue of how well and apt someone is to do a job was then based on who daddy knew and whether the minister was David Lammy, a strong advocate of equality based on race (as opposed to gender/disability/social class/ age) at the time. The personnel managers are employed to give the job to whoever their manager wants, and so on paper you will see nothing but over a period of ten years you will see a workforce/contractors/consultants change to whichever managers agenda. I think the Blairite world is too based on 'preference' to the CV and not to experience for doing a job – for your blank CV to have any relationship to 'equality'. Just look at the BBC – obsessing about being "hideously white" but not "hideously middleclass and rich mostly public school boy yuppies".

]]> By: Martin Bailey http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2009/07/whats-in-name.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2074 Martin Bailey Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:53:33 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=2274#comment-2074 Ah, yes: making job applications anonymous might well help reduce discrimination on various negative grounds: sex and ethnicity are the most obvious.<br /><br />It is also apparent that discriminating against otherwise suitable candidates on grounds of age can have very serious consequences both for individuals and society at large. How on earth can we raise the minimum age for state pensions IF we continue to allow employers to get rid of workers (and refuse to employ others) simply on grounds of age? Why should it be legal to refuse employment to a fit 66 year old just because he or she is above a certain arbitrary age? Let alone fit people in their fifties? Ah, yes: making job applications anonymous might well help reduce discrimination on various negative grounds: sex and ethnicity are the most obvious.

It is also apparent that discriminating against otherwise suitable candidates on grounds of age can have very serious consequences both for individuals and society at large. How on earth can we raise the minimum age for state pensions IF we continue to allow employers to get rid of workers (and refuse to employ others) simply on grounds of age? Why should it be legal to refuse employment to a fit 66 year old just because he or she is above a certain arbitrary age? Let alone fit people in their fifties?

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