Discrimination and job advertising

Has record unemployment and concerns about skills shortages improved gender bias in situations vacant advertising? The answer appears to be no.

In recent months several job ads have suggested narrow (and irrelevant) person specifications. One ad  headlined “How Ballsy are You?” (we wondered if this implied that people without balls should not apply).  Yes, we know that women are sometimes referred to as ballsy, but the rest of the text was loaded with words which suggested men were preferred. The advertisement was placed by a prominent recruitment consultant.

Another ad was for an advertising agency receptionist;  a “girl”.  The ad, published in a trendy business magazine was sent to us anonymously, and was so offensive we wondered if it was a wind up and that the company was seeking some free publicity care of the Human Rights Commission.  

Our point is: do the ad writers know that it is illegal to discriminate by sex?  Secondly, has it occurred to them that  maybe if job advertisements were less gendered and more inclusive companies would discover a much larger talent pool from which to select their staff?