Letter: Fair jobs deal for men and women

Fair jobs deal for men and women

Sir: Aidan Rankin's article (29 October) misrepresents my views on equal opportunities.

In a recent interview with another national broadsheet it was put to me that if I was faced with a male and female candidate of equal ability, who had interviewed identically, would I employ the woman? I replied that the representation of each of the sexes within my company could certainly be one of several determining factors in deciding who got the post, but that I would happily employ a man if they were under-represented in the workforce, or a woman if the reverse were true. I do not believe, and nor have I ever, in the positive discrimination he so vehemently condemns.

JANET ANDERSON MP

(Rossendale and Darwen, Lab)

Shadow Minister for Women

House of Commons