The first thing I did was reach out to Guelph University — but they ignored me.
I then reached out to several employment lawyers. Five of them answered me.
Unfortunately I don’t think this will be a story that I want to participate in from a branding exercise for my business. Accordingly please attribute the following comment anonymously. I think an interesting arguments can be made that this policy is actually transphobic as only women can apply.
— Anonymous lawyer #1
Ha. Fair enough. I wouldn’t want to risk the reputation of my business on a non-politically-correct opinion either.
I am curious, though, if this lawyer’s “transphobic” argument actually holds any water, or if he is just trolling. Let’s take another look at the wording in the job posting: “Candidates must be from one or more of the following equity-seeking groups to apply: women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, and racialized groups.”
According to Guelph, then, if you are a CIS female you are entitled to affirmative action, but if that same CIS female gets a buzzcut and chops off her boobs and changes her name to “George,” all of a sudden “George” is not entitled to affirmative action?