COMMENT: Give jobs on merit, not on gender basis (From Banbury Cake)
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COMMENT: Give jobs on merit, not on gender basis
9:00am Monday 3rd September 2012 in News
ARE women well represented enough on Oxfordshire councils?
It’s a debate that needs to be had, and we present the figures in our story today with that in mind.
Shown in black and white, it would appear that a number of our councils do not have many women in senior positions.
Local authorities are in a tricky position though.
They must keep quotas in mind, and make sure they are properly represen-tative of the communities they serve.
But they are also bound by the fact they have to provide the public with a quality service.
Does it really matter if it’s a man or a woman who decides which company is going to collect the rubbish from your doorstep, or run our sports centres?
There can be few phrases in the English language that are more divisive than “positive discrimination”.
Councils need to appoint the best person, be that a woman or a man, for the job.
It would be the worst kind of tokenism to employ someone on the basis of their gender rather than their ability.
