These days jobs can seem to be few and far between for those unfortunate enough to be currently unemployed, the process of getting one can also seem quite complicated, especially if you live in Northern Ireland. When you apply for a job here you have to fill in a form telling your employer your religion, your race, if your married, your age and sometimes even your sexuality, but the people who are appointing you this position or interviewing you are technically not allowed to ask for personal information such as this. Why is this? well in case they discriminate against you.
Discrimination and employment was a major issue in Northern Ireland back in the 1960’s and in 1969 that anger and resentment seen between Catholics and Protestants boiled over. In this film we see comedian and former lawyer for the newly-formed FEC Tim McGarry, dive straight into this controversial topic of fair employment within Northern Ireland.
I can see how if you are discriminated against in the workplace you could amass evidence and prove your case. I don’t see how you can prove you were discriminated against if you ticked some boxes on an employment form and the interviewer decided they didn’t like what you offered there. Only systemic prejudice could be shown and that might help in the future but it doesn’t help the person who is told “we’ll let you know” and never gets a call back.