Application forms seem to throw forth ever new quantities of paper work. The myriad of questions can be quite baffling, yet there is one form above all which strikes one as being unnecessary, intrusive, dare I say offensive; the Equal Opportunities form on ethnicity. As I wade through mountains of scholarship application forms for law school this one form crops up without fail attached to every official document.

In a society that is supposedly driven by a meritocratic system, why is there still a place for judging applicants according to their ethnicity? I would like to think that I was being judged not on my skin colour but on my aptitudes and what I had to offer to the job in question in terms of skill and background experience. The form states that the information is purely for database collection, yet in a political climate in which government imposed targets force institutions to comply to criteria as set out by the equal opportunities agenda, then ultimately the race disclosure form is a key player in making sure that companies and institutions have the right number of X or Y people regardless of their capability or suitability for the job in question.

In an age that was meant to have taken race out of the social equation, why is it being made such a central issue on application forms? Why for instance should I tick “White British” if I have a higher chance of getting in as “Anglo-Latin.” This system is perverse and only helps foster resentment, such as seen in the film “Crash.” Can I recommend that people tick “other” and make a stand against what is ultimately racism dressed up in equal opportunity clothes.

Filed under: culture, socialcohesion, society, ukpolitics on May 17th, 2007