3 ms·

I too found it a bit strange when I moved here. My understanding (gleaned over time) is America is heavily focused on race metrics to measure progress towards

I too found it a bit strange when I moved here. My understanding (gleaned over time) is America is heavily focused on race metrics to measure progress towards equality. My employer wanted all sorts of information for various reporting requirements they were under. Identifying as disabled was optional - I don't remember if race was. America takes it to extreme, but in over places such as Canada a very public battle was fought over elimination of the long form census which asks questions on a number of personal topics such as religion. There the argument was public services couldn't properly be provided without such information.

HarryHirsch 10y ago
In Northern Ireland they ask for one's religion in the context of a job application. Over there it's the Catholics that have traditionally been the targets of discrimination and the Protestants are the ruling caste. That's how the HR guy explained it. It's understandable, the new "Middle Eastern" category. You do ask yourself how a person of Jewish extraction would answer the question, though. "Jew" isn't a race on the census right now, even though antisemitism was a thing in the US up until WW II.