September 2010
As someone who teaches at a Canadian university, I’d like to think that
when my students graduate and apply for jobs, each applicant will be considered
on his or her merits. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work at many
universities today.
Although some people have expressed concern that the first round of Canada
Excellence Research Chairs have all gone to men, much more common are university
job searches that are biased in favour of women.
In
one recent job search, a Canadian arts faculty encouraged only women candidates
to apply. Once applications were received, only women were considered and only
women were interviewed. This kind of restriction didn’t happen in the case of
the Canada Research Chair searches where both men and women were considered for
positions.
Discrimination against men isn’t always so extreme. Most departments allow men
to apply, but almost always "give preference" to women. For anyone who favours
non-discriminatory hiring, even this is a shameful practice.
For
those of us who have worked in Canada all our lives, is this the kind of job
market we want to leave to our children and grandchildren? For the many people
who immigrate to Canada each year, is this the kind of non-discriminatory
society they’re hoping to discover once they arrive? Probably not.
So
why do such practices persist?
Partly it’s because they’re supported by a small but active group of ideologues,
people who mistakenly believe they’ll be able to prevent the perceived wrongs of
50 or 100 years ago from ever recurring by refusing to hire a generation of
young men who had no role in past discrimination.
More often it’s because such practices are encouraged in today’s world of
identity politics. Twenty years ago, many people expressed tremendous moral
outrage when slightly more men than women were enrolled in Canadian
universities. Now that the percentages have reversed and university degree
programs are filled with many more women than men, there’s not word of
complaint.
Far
from wanting to introduce a few temporary, gender-neutral procedures intended to
help advance the cause of non-discrimination, it turns out that what most
advocates of affirmative action really wanted was to advance the interests of a
few favoured groups. Pretending to be friends of the merit principle, they
convinced governments and universities that temporary discriminatory measures
were essential for combatting so-called "systemic discrimination." What was
never mentioned was that this newly discovered form of discrimination was to be
found only in male-dominated disciplines, never in female-dominated ones. It was
a neat trick. As one colleague memorably put it, "Saying you will hire someone
preferentially in order to combat discrimination is like saying you would give
your right arm to be ambidextrous."
Partly, too, such policies remain in place because it’s always easy to find
pragmatic careerists who are willing to implement them. These are the people who
tell you privately with great earnestness that they are opposed to
discriminatory searches. But somehow, in public, they always find it necessary
to act otherwise, especially if failing to do so might jeopardize their career
advancement.
Of
course, such moral hypocrisy is nothing new. Sometimes it may even result from
genuinely difficult moral choices.
For
people who want to pursue a career they love, or who want to support their
families, it’s often necessary to become a team player. Sometimes this involves
going along with morally suspect policies. It’s easy to say you’d never join a
restricted golf club if you don’t play golf. But if golf is your livelihood, and
if there’s only one golf club in town, the decision becomes more difficult.
Even so, at some point people who say they are opposed to discriminatory hiring
need to speak up in department and faculty meetings and refuse to participate in
discriminatory searches. People who say they are opposed to discrimination need
to stand up and refuse to administer discriminatory policies.
This isn’t just because discrimination is immoral. It’s also because it’s every
university’s responsibility to find the very best people to teach and do
research.
Every time a job search is restricted in a medical faculty, it becomes less
likely that an improved cancer treatment will be found. Every time a search is
restricted in a history department, it becomes less likely that we’ll be able to
discover the truth about controversial events of the past.
Universities that restrict searches and hire from among only the best men, or
from among only the best women, will never know whether they have succeeded in
hiring the very best person for the job. Universities that "give preference" to
some groups rather than others end up in exactly the same position. Admittedly,
opposing university policies is sometimes easier said than done. More than one
talented academic has been hounded from a university because of his or her
opposition to affirmative action.
Others have found that speaking invitations begin to dry up, or that they have
become isolated in other ways. But for those who remain, perhaps there is some
comfort to be found in the words of Thomas Paine.
Paine’s acquaintance Benjamin Franklin once remarked, "Where Liberty dwells,
there is my country." Paine’s reply was telling: "Where Liberty is not, there is
mine."
Over the years, Andrew Irvine has been affiliated with several universities in
Canada, Australia and the United States. He is currently a professor in the
philosophy department at the University of British Columbia and a SAFS Board
member.
The Ottawa Citizen, May 27, 2010.
Help us maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship by joining SAFS or making a donation.
