New guidelines
The UK Government, in its infinite wisdom, has advised potential employers to remove ‘stereotypically masculine’ language from advertisements, in order that female applicants are not deterred from applying for jobs. It, or rather, the ‘Office for Equality and Opportunity’ claims that the aim of the advice is to remove ‘invisible barriers’ and ‘ensure women can thrive at work.’
The offensive words include ‘ambitious,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘entrepreneurial.’ Ye gods and little fishes!
This is not a joke, but it is patronising and insulting. I wonder how long it will be before the ‘advice’ is adapted or withdrawn in the face of disbelief and outrage from working women.
It will just be yet another U-turn in a growing list of about turns.
While they are words I don't like in a job description (probably because I have never been any of them), isn't it more sexist to remove them?
ReplyDeleteQuite so!
DeleteHA-nice try Patriarchy! they miss every time!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Prime Minister who tends to 'simplify' and his ministers do likewise. Where were their brains?
DeleteShaking my head. Sometimes they just miss the mark completely
ReplyDeleteCompletely!
DeleteOY!
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteCodex: Thank you for posting this. It's the opposite of what they allegedly intend. Women are neither ambitious nor entrepreneurial? Not supposed to be?
ReplyDeleteWe should scuttle back to our sheltered safe spots and let the big, brave men look after us!
DeleteHow odd to identify those particular words as masculine. Do they know any women?
ReplyDeleteOne wonders . . .
DeleteI know plenty of women, myself included, who are ambitious, competitive, and entrpreneurial, so I'm quite confused by the desire to remove these words.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
No, no, women cannot be ambitious - they don't know how, apparently! 😧
DeleteOops, I guess I was never ambitious. My mistake. lol
DeleteI had no idea words had such a connotation.
ReplyDeleteI'm dropping by to wave hello. 🙋♂️
"Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read." — Athenaeus
J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) @JLenniDorner ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge international blog hop
Hello! Words have power - more than perhaps some realise.
DeleteThere is nothing at all offensive in those words. What is the world coming to?
ReplyDeleteWe live in an increasingly nanny state . . .
DeleteThese words are only offensive when they're removed. Ye gods and little fishes.
ReplyDeleteWe trip over each other to 'include' everyone and not 'offend' anyone and end up talking gobbledygook.
DeleteAre we sure this isn't a sketch from Monty Python and the Ministry of Silly walks. It certainly sounds like a place where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteI did check the date and it wasn't April 1st.
DeleteYou couldn't make it up. Reality beats satire and comedy every time.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does. One wonders what rubbish will be suggested next?
DeleteI very much doubt that they will remove words such as 'caring' and 'empathetic' on the grounds that they might put men off applying for jobs requiring those 'feminine' qualities.
ReplyDeleteGood point! 😂🤣
DeleteNot ambitious and competitive??? Have they seen our Over 60s Ladies bowls team??
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha!
DeleteGood grief, I can't even laugh in contempt, I'm spitting feathers.
ReplyDeleteWhat were these people thinking? Actually, were they thinking?
DeleteTypical government spend millions on a topic, which if they asked the public, we could have answered logical and practical, still they have to earn their salary's, which has just been increased by 5%, nice pay rise.
ReplyDeleteQuite so! Spend years studying whatever it is, to come up with 'lessons will be learned,' while raking in a fat fee for chewing the fat.
DeleteI have to agree with you here. Can we get back to common sense before our brains are totally mashed into a pulp.
ReplyDeleteThat's debatable . . .😧
DeleteThose are not words that I would have thought offensive to women. As a matter of fact I know plenty of women who are ambitious, competitive and entrepreneurial
ReplyDeleteIt's insulting. I'm sure most of us know entirely capable, ambitious, competitive women.
DeleteProbably (possibly?) well intentioned but totally misguided.
ReplyDeleteI think it was well-intentioned. The proposer is the Secretary of State for Education as well as the MInister for Women and Equalities. She is a working class lass, as she likes to remind everyone, brought up by a single mother, and educated at Oxford.
DeleteFace palm. They are really tone-deaf
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteAgree -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI think the government may live to regret its words . . . again!
DeleteGood grief.
ReplyDeleteQuite!
ReplyDeleteSo women applicants don't have such qualities? A ridiculous premise.
ReplyDeleteCrackers!
DeleteWhat? Women cannot be ‘ambitious,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘entrepreneurial?"
ReplyDeleteHas the government met women???
They had a hard time deciding what a woman was, so who knows?
Deleteagree with you 100 percent. that said, on our local news, out of my mouth popped these words, when I saw the young African American Female Fire Fighter, in Tampa florida given an award and had been there for 20 years. my words were I had no idea Tampa has female firefighters, and why would a woman want to be one... shame on me...
ReplyDeleteI may have said, I don't think she could carry me or you to my husband Bob. shame again
DeleteNot a job I would relish, but why did it take 20 years to recognise her?
DeleteOh for goodness sake!!!
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Quite!
ReplyDeleteI truly think that many government bodies never actually think "why don't we ask a real person" because they would learn quite a great deal.
ReplyDelete. . . but it might not chime with their preconceptions.
DeleteThat's really pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteHave literally just put down "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez and would recommend it to anyone who thinks that the wording of advertisements doesn't put women off applying for work to which they are well qualified. The language used counts and, if we want women to apply and be represented in the workforce, we need to avoid language that discourages them. This is what they have learned by asking real women.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I have just read some of the reviews of this book.
DeleteThis is just ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteHere in our world, it’s called “Diversity, Equity and inclusion”…and it’s anything but ridiculous….
ReplyDeleteThat should be "it's not anything if not ridiculous"....
DeleteIt seems to me that governments focus too closely on less pressing issues, probably because they're easier and cheaper to resolve.
DeleteWell, yes, that's a bit poopy. At least you still have some sort of office exuding some diversity, sort of equality and maybe inclusion. Our Orange Idiot has closed our DEI down. I could send any number of Idiots over to help you: our Jerk, and evil Kristi Noem is now available. Hang in there as the pendulum swings back and forth. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteIt is a pendulum, you're quite right.
DeleteSeems, perhaps, a little over sensitive.
ReplyDeleteLoopy, I think.
ReplyDelete