‘Patronising gibberish’ – Top Tory slams Labour’s ‘masculine’ job ad crackdown
Labour has been criticised for issuing new guidance that warns employers against using ‘masculine’ language in job descriptions.
The Office for Equality and Opportunity’s new guidance, published on Wednesday, suggests that businesses swap ‘aggressive character traits’ for more neutral, behaviour-based criteria.
The document urges businesses to use neutral language and titles, including “avoid terms associated with male stereotypes” such as competitive, ambitious and dominant.
The guidance also suggests that businesses should remove phrases that might deter women, such as asking them to explain gaps in their CVs, and list specific behaviours and competencies instead of character traits.
The shadow minister for equalities, Claire Coutinho, called the guidance “pages of patronising gibberish” that was funded by the taxpayer.
She questioned claims that terms like ‘ambitious’, ‘entrepreneurial’ or ‘drives results’ are too masculine for women, but the report also found that some men are put off applying for roles when such terms are used.
“Telling companies that women find the words ‘ambitious’, ‘competitive’ or ‘entrepreneurial’ too masculine is frankly insulting to women,” she said.
Guidance ‘not solving any problems’
“What if it’s got nothing to do with being a woman, it’s just a personality type?” she added.
Coutinho, who is also the shadow energy secretary, argued that “businesses should be able to create their own workplace culture” and insisted this new guidance does not “actually solve any problems”.
“It doesn’t make it easier for new mums to return to work, or help older workers retrain, or get people from working-class backgrounds into the arts.”
“It is poorly evidenced busy-work to justify some diversity officer’s job,” she added.
This comes as the latest figures showed the unemployment rate for all workers at 5.2 per cent, markedly higher than in recent non-Covid years, and even higher for young people.
The City is feeling the effects of the jobs chill, with total vacancies falling to the lowest level since 2021, with London facing the biggest drop in open roles.