Diversity clauses in job advertisements: Organisational reproduction of inequality?

Abstract

This article contributes to the research on inequality in organisations by analysing job advertisements that include a diversity clause stating that minority or disadvantaged jobseekers are welcome. The diversity clause appears as a response to expectations from the organisations’ environment, namely anti-discrimination regulations and activation policies that aim to persuade employers to counteract inequality and include minorities and marginalised groups. With disability as a case, the analysis demonstrates how the mundane organisational practice of advertising for new employees fails to avoid reproducing the inequality that it aspires to reduce. A predominant distinction in the advertisement texts between desired employees and disabled applicants (addressed in the diversity clause) shows how organisations, while acting properly and performing the benevolent practice of championing diversity, can still subtly signal the inferiority of disability.