I started my working life in the 1970's when women had only just been allowed to enter professions and jobs that had hitherto been male only domains. If a pretty female was hired at a firm that had been all male prior to the changes it was assumed she was employed because she had great tits or the boss wanted to sleep with her. If a plain woman was hired it was assumed she probably had talent but it still was suspected that hiring her served some hidden agenda. Women were hired on their merit but they really had to prove their worth to help kill the discrimination that was still pervasive at that time. Over the years as more women proved themselves capable these stereotypes dissipated and up until recently being female had no bearing on whether someone hired you or not. A lot of work went into changing the human resources culture, and the way it used to be for women should never be forgotten.

Now we have identity politics and many companies are using a system of hiring on the basis of diversity rather than merit. If a man can tick the diversity boxes of both woman and LGBTQ+ without the need for maternity leave, special bathrooms, etc, then he will be seen as having more going for him as a prospective employee than a woman who may need time off to have children and may have ongoing commitments to children and family that require altered hours of work and such.

I have watched women in the workplace go from excluded to exploited and then to accepted and normalised in society. Now it is changing again and women are being overlooked if there is a minority or 'diverse' candidate whose social identity outweighs their merit when it comes to fulfilling the job criteria.

One generation was all women got to be treated as equals in the workforce. One lousy generation that nobody will remember in another 20 years if this identity politics keeps going.