Possible indications that the times could be changing a bit? The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the American Economic Association voted to allow more explicit references to seeking women and minority applicants in job postings. (It’ll ask for a login/password, just click “cancel.”)
Since 1986, the association has banned advertisements in its newsletter, Job Openings for Economists, that discriminate “on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual preference, or physical handicap.” And for at least a decade, it has interpreted that policy with an unusual strictness, so as to forbid phrases such as “We encourage applications from women and members of underrepresented minorities.” Broad language such as “We are an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action employer” has been accepted, but explicit encouragement to particular groups has not.
It seems mostly to be a semantic change, since everybody understands what “equal opportunity, affirmative-action” means. But if it makes just a few more qualified women and minorities feel comfortable putting themselves forward then, it’s more than worth it.