Are you a woman?Do you have a disability?Well, there's a job for you.At Dalhousie University, a research Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthy Aging was posted back in June, designated for candidates who "self-identify as women with a disability or gender equity-seeking persons.".The position is within the university's computer science and health departments. They wish for the candidate to have the ability to lead an "internationally recognized research program that develops new machine-learning techniques and looks to apply them to applications in health and healthcare-related fields focusing on healthy aging."As for why this is a requirement, Dalhousie writes: "In accordance with our Employment Equity Policy, preference will be given in hiring processes to candidates who self-identify as members of one or more of the equity-deserving groups listed above."Digging further into their hiring etiquette, the "principles of fair consideration" under their "Fair Hiring Practices" page elaborates:."1. Units will use their best efforts to attract applicants from all Equity-Deserving Groups.""2. Units will give preference to qualified self-identified candidate(s) from Equity-Deserving Groups."And if you were hoping to override these equity preferences, here's what you'll need to know:"3. Candidates who do not self-identify as a member of an Equity-Deserving Group, will be selected only if it can be demonstrated that they are substantially better qualified for the position than any other qualified candidate who has self-identified as a member of an Equity-Deserving Group.".However, you're still not assured a position if you fall under the equity group requirements. The fourth rule says if "some self-identified Equity-Deserving Groups are less well-represented in the applicable unit than others," the underrepresented equity group in the pool of applicants will be selected over the more common equity group in the pool. The university did not respond the the Western Standard for comment.
