France has not traditionally been a place where DEI programmes have taken root because of legal limitations on the collection of racial and ethnic data. Employers are not allowed to factor people’s origins into hiring or promotion decisions.
In France, you cannot really base any official decision on the origin of someone, even just using the concept of race is considered racist and against the law. This is due to the trauma of Vichy’s regime Nazi collaboration but also the popularization of the idea that there is no scientific evidence for human races in the current human population by the famous anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.
We still have DEI policies focusing on gender, disability and on socio-economic background (which does correlate with ethnicity in a lot of places). Of course in a lot of companies it’s mostly for show, but in some it’s done with a sincere will and has real effects.
It may correlate with ethnicity, but the cases when it doesn’t are important too and it makes it a better condition. It’s also better at countering some far right arguments against help programs.
The same applies to gender. No one can mention or have mentioned in a job offer the gender or family situation of the candidate sought. This prohibition applies to any form of advertising related to hiring, regardless of the nature of the proposed employment contract. The offer must therefore be written in such a way that it clearly indicates that it is addressed equally to men and women. For example, “Executive M/F” or “Employee.” For more details, one can refer to the document “Gender Equality in the Workplace.”
However, when belonging to one gender or the other meets an essential and determining professional requirement, and provided that the objective is legitimate and the requirement is proportionate, the above prohibition does not apply. Article R. 1142-1 of the Labor Code thus establishes the list of jobs and professional activities for which belonging to one gender or the other is a determining condition; this list, which is revised periodically, is as follows:
Artists called to interpret either a female role or a male role;
Models tasked with presenting clothing and accessories;
I understand this to mean that job adverts shouldn’t explicitly target DEI hires. That is not, however, the same as not implementing DEI targets in a company.
The intelligent way to implement DEI has always been to interview and identity the top candidates for a role, and then if you have 2 capable and competent candidates and one is a women / minority, they get the job. This law wouldn’t prevent that.
The subtext of “anti-DEI”, though, is that it is not possible to have two competent candidates where one is a woman/minority because conservative Christian English-speaking white men from wealthy families are inherently superior.
No argument from me, I understand why anti-DEI proponents oppose it. Their racism, classism and misogyny is clear.
The point to my comment was simply that the original commenter is incorrect in thinking that not having DEI explicit adverts excludes a business from having DEI targets.
French companies do have to implement “DEI” policies by law. In France, companies have to monitor inequalities between men and women (in hiring opportunities, salary, promotions, autonomy, etc) and implement plans to reduce them (they can’t discriminate on job adverts, but can take other actions). They also have to hire a certain proportion of people with disabilities.
The interesting part:
In France, you cannot really base any official decision on the origin of someone, even just using the concept of race is considered racist and against the law. This is due to the trauma of Vichy’s regime Nazi collaboration but also the popularization of the idea that there is no scientific evidence for human races in the current human population by the famous anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Didn’t he study jeans?
That’s how he figured out the race thing. Jeans look equally good on all people no matter color or origin!
Nono, he was an anthropologist, he studied genes
Like Wilder and Hackman?
That was his brother, Jimmy “Beans” Levi-Strauss
We still have DEI policies focusing on gender, disability and on socio-economic background (which does correlate with ethnicity in a lot of places). Of course in a lot of companies it’s mostly for show, but in some it’s done with a sincere will and has real effects.
It may correlate with ethnicity, but the cases when it doesn’t are important too and it makes it a better condition. It’s also better at countering some far right arguments against help programs.
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That doesn’t apply to hiring women though, which is also DEI.
It does in general according to this government website. https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/offre-demploi-et-embauche-les-droits-du-candidat#anchor-navigation-411
Machine translated:
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
I understand this to mean that job adverts shouldn’t explicitly target DEI hires. That is not, however, the same as not implementing DEI targets in a company.
The intelligent way to implement DEI has always been to interview and identity the top candidates for a role, and then if you have 2 capable and competent candidates and one is a women / minority, they get the job. This law wouldn’t prevent that.
The subtext of “anti-DEI”, though, is that it is not possible to have two competent candidates where one is a woman/minority because conservative Christian English-speaking white men from wealthy families are inherently superior.
No argument from me, I understand why anti-DEI proponents oppose it. Their racism, classism and misogyny is clear.
The point to my comment was simply that the original commenter is incorrect in thinking that not having DEI explicit adverts excludes a business from having DEI targets.
French companies do have to implement “DEI” policies by law. In France, companies have to monitor inequalities between men and women (in hiring opportunities, salary, promotions, autonomy, etc) and implement plans to reduce them (they can’t discriminate on job adverts, but can take other actions). They also have to hire a certain proportion of people with disabilities.
Makes sense, thanks for clarifying.
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It’s not rocket science. (Although coincidentally we Frenchmen know how to build rockets too)
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The British managed that, though we are more than happy to share with our European cousins.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shrapnel
He invented the idea of an explosion powered guillotine blade. Perfect for a rocket warhead.