Discrimination or Something Else

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

Nadia: An MBA friend of mine was recommended for an internship by a teacher of us. She was
quite happy and went for an interview there. They rejected her. She came back and was unable to
explore the reason. Later the teacher told us the reason that the company people, where she
worked and sent her student, told her, “Hey, don’t send us such ugly and non-fashionable girls
again. We want extremely beautiful and attractive girls. Kindly don’t recommend such students
to us again.” This is what our teacher shared with us and didn’t recommend any student after
that.

Aania: She is a 25-year old married girl, working at an organization. After her resignation, I
asked her the reason and she stated,” I worked a lot for them, and worked really hard till late
nights. The people and my colleagues asked me to put on heavy makeup and bring them more
business. I could do it nicely and bring them more business with my strategies, but not with
looks. So I have finally resigned.”

I have thinking very seriously to write on this issue. I am seeing companies posting ads like
“Only Females Interns Required”. Does this make sense to people? I think it is an insult of both
the genders; this would create hatred between them. People shall be hired regardless of the
gender. We studied something like “Skill based hiring” and “Competency based hiring” in our
HR studies, but these days, one finds more of a “Looks based Hiring”. The organizations can fix
a quota of 50% males and 50% females while hiring. The detailed HR policies stop working here
when it comes to justice and equity. Why special preference to be given to girls in an
organization? They should be respected by their peers, but posting an ad like “Internships
Available for only Females” would create agony and frustration among men. Treating everyone
equally and on the basis of skill and competency is a healthier way. If all the positions are open
to female candidates only, where would the boys go? I have seen and read four Ads like this, and
this sounds pitiable. According to some people, areas like Relationship Management and
Customer Service need ladies, but these ads weren’t posted for these two categories. It is hard to
understand the exact misconception or illusion in the minds of hiring staff. Would beautiful
ladies increase the rate of return or bring more business for the organization? One can
understand if the ad states “Candidates should be presentable”, since no one likes nasty-looking
people. Even if one dresses up like a professional, that sounds really great. I have changed the
names of the girls, since I have seen some other friends of mine complaining about the same.
One should be professionally dressed and sound professional, but relying completely on looks
doesn’t make any sense. There is another friend who is very pretty and attractive. She never
complained about tough interviews or initial screening process. She says that she has always
been able to get jobs just because of her good looks. She herself says that she uses her looks to
maintain her job. She is never fired or terminated. People asked me why I didn’t favor this favor
for women. One can never favor such things. Equity and Equality are two vital doctrines. So it is
a time now for HR departments to devise and make better strategies and come out of this bigotry.