Equity Matters Comment on Chris Keall’s article – ‘It’s not rocket science, they want women’
I was speaking with the CEO of a corporate services company this week who asked for my perspective and how I would respond to Chris Keall’s article – ‘It’s not rocket science, they want women’ – in the NZ Herald on Saturday 13 July. Keall’s article questions Rocket Lab’s decision to use Positive Action, prioritising the recruitment of women over men by offering bigger referral payments to employees who refer women. The article indicates that a $2,000 bonus is paid when a new employee completes three months, however this can be increased to $4,000 if the new employee is a woman or a gender minority candidate (e.g. gender fluid).
Before I set out my response which I gave to the CEO, it is important to explain what Positive Action is. Positive Action is prioritising a candidate(s) based on their personal characteristics (prohibited discrimination grounds), for example, age, ethnicity and gender. The NZ Human Rights Act 1993 (section 73) allows employers to undertake specific measures, which would otherwise be regarded as discriminatory, to try and achieve equity within the workplace.
It is important to remember that even when Positive Action is used, the candidates still need to meet the ‘appointable merit threshold’, e.g. they meet the requirements for the role and are able to do the job. This point is often overlooked by those who criticise the use of Positive Action.In responding to the CEO, I shared the following points with her:
1. Rocket Lab should be commended for ‘walking the talk’ by being prepared to underwrite their philosophical commitment to equity with genuine intentionality through the use of Positive Action. The decision to use Positive Action required bravery from senior leaders as they would have known that inevitable criticism would come their way.
2. The actions taken by Rocket Lab are clearly justified given their workforce is 80% male. The truth is that you are not going to create a more gender balanced workforce from this position without the sustained use of Positive Action.
3. Rocket Lab needs to attract the best people to ensure that they can sustainably compete internationally; it is therefore vital that talented women interested in working in the aerospace sector regard Rocket Lab as being genuinely interested in them. Far too many capable women and under-represented groups find themselves ‘underemployed’ because they either do not feel valued or cannot find a way into the aerospace sector.
I have always found it somewhat ironic that whenever an organisation tries to correct historic inequity through the use of Positive Action, there is always a quote included from either a woman or from a minority group which is used to try and invalidate the action being proposed. It would be great if occasionally this was balanced by hearing from those who have had their career opportunities limited for decades due simply to the fact that they are a woman or belong to a minority group.
