Byline: SUSAN PINKER
FURIOUS indignation greeted Equalities Minister Harriet Harman'sannouncement last week that companies may be required to discriminate in favourof women and ethnic minorities to somehow 'even out the score' in theworkplace. Many critics protested that the new Equality Bill would interferewith an employer's right to appoint the best candidate. But the real questionis whether these measures can ever deliver the 'equality' that Ms Harman wantsto engineer.
Let's get one thing clear - officially sanctioned discrimination on race,gender and religion is nothing new in Britain. Between the wars, it wasconsidered perfectly fair that married women were legally barred from paidwork. The rationale was that many men were war veterans and victims of theDepression who needed the chance to earn a decent 'family wage'. The tradesunions eagerly supported the measure.
Educational institutions have long used group membership as selection tools,too.
Until 1871, Jews and nonconformists could not attend Oxford or Cambridge.Today, Oxbridge has Government benchmarks to meet about how …
