A 30-something with a post-doctorate in biology, who sees job opportunities elude him in academia because of his status as a white man, questions the relevance of correcting centuries of discrimination in just ten years, with the ” perverse effects” that this can cause.
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The man, whom we will call Simon, refused to be identified so as not to interfere with his job search efforts. He completed his postdoc four years ago. Since then, he has seen several job opportunities elude him due to equity, diversity and inclusion policies in academia.
“My window of opportunity is closing. There isn’t much available anymore and it becomes much more complex,” he says.
Opportunities are also closing in the federal public service. Last year, positions for researchers at Environment and Climate Change Canada were posted. Simon’s candidacy was not selected for an interview. It was later explained to her that only female candidates had been selected for reasons of representativeness and equity.
Simon is very aware that this is an “exceedingly delicate” issue and fully shares the goal of a more equitable and inclusive society. However, he wonders about the deadline for federal targets and the means put in place to achieve them.
“There is a significant social gain to be made, but also a very significant individual cost that I am currently experiencing,” he says.
The targets of the federal program in the university environment are aimed at gender parity and equitable representation of other underrepresented groups within a ten-year horizon.
“I understand the problem, but how quickly do you have to turn the boat? There has been discrimination for centuries and there, in ten years, it has to be resolved. To achieve this, we discriminate against those who have been privileged in the past,” he laments.
Micheline Labelle, professor emeritus in sociology at UQAM, also disagrees with the establishment of “quotas” in the university environment because of the negative impacts that such a measure can have on young white men.
“It develops in them a feeling of anger and injustice that only divides,” she laments.
At Laval University, where white men have been excluded from certain calls for candidates, it is considered rather that it is justified to repair the inequities of the past by favoring people belonging to groups that have historically been victims of discrimination.