Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hello there,

This is not philosophy, it is about politics or legal procedures.

The usual German text is "Schwerbehinderte werden bei gleicher Eignung
bevorzugt"
("handicapped persons with equal qualification are preferentially considered").
I think this one is required by law from a public employer in Germany.
It is often combined with "Die Universität ist bestrebt, den Anteil an Frauen
am wissenschaftlichen Personal zu erhöhen und fordert qualifizierte Frauen auf,
sich zu bewerben." (The university wishes to increase the percentage of woman
on its scientific staff. Therefore qualified women are asked to apply).

In the translation that Guy objected to, this was for some reason combined with
the phrase "equal opportunity employer" which is used in (some parts of?) the
English speaking world but is virtually unknown in German.

I suggest genereally not to interpret to much into the semantics when people
have to communicate in a language other than their native one. Those who have
the luck of being able to do their job complepetely in their native language
should be happy about it - and show some tolerance with us others. You have an
advantage that very few of us will ever gain.

No hard feelings, let's go back to science


Steffen


--- Guy Cox <[log in to unmask]> schrieb: > Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> John,
>
> >I interpret this to mean that if one has three candidates with
> >identical professional qualifications, that any who are female and/or
> >handicapped (physically, presumably) would be given preference. I
> >agree that the wording is fraught with possibilities, some amusing
> >and some not so amusing, depending upon how it is read. Ah, semantics.
>
> So they mean 'unequal opportunity employer'.
>
> I'm not knocking the principle of 'Affirmative Action' but if that's
> their philosophy they should say so, not try to 'have their cake and
> eat it'!







=====
Steffen Dietzel, Dr. rer. nat.
Department Bioligie II - Humangenetik
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany
phone: +49/89/2180-6728
fax:   +49/89/2180-6719
e-mail: [log in to unmask]  Web:  http://www.dietzellab.de

__________________________________________________________________

Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - http://mail.yahoo.de
Bis zu 100 MB Speicher bei http://premiummail.yahoo.de