Hacker News Reader

They would be breaking the law if they did. Unlike China, sex discrimination is illegal in the USA and would be resolved very quickly in court if they decided to put out a job posting like that (likely with a huge civil settlement).

View on HN

When I worked in IT, the standard technique Western employers used to practise discrimination was to use independent recruiters to place job adverts and vet candidates before they were forwarded to the employer. When the recruiter and employer had an informal conversation a little later, perhaps over lunch, the employer would casually let slip that "if the new employee could speak another language, she would be able to interact easier with prospective clients", which the recruiter took mental note of before changing the subject.

But perhaps things are different nowadays.

If jobs ads were as blatant as they were in China, then they would definitely get sued.

But there are many ways to game the system in rather legally safe ways where subjective decisions are involved.

insidious and subtle discrimination is the name of the game in the US. it's definitely worse in that it's far harder to fight against.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com