Caroline Russell, the Green Party’s No 2 candidate for the London Assembly, has reaffirmed that a Green Mayor would remove candidates’ names from their application forms and would mandate this for all Greater London Authority group agencies and contractors.
She reiterated the pledge at today’s Mayoral Debate organised as part of the fifth annual Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre.
“Anonymised applications are an important step in levelling the playing field for candidates of all backgrounds – and will also help women who are similarly disadvantaged by conscious and unconscious bias in their careers,” she said.
“It was a Green Party manifesto commitment at the General Election to progressively introduce anonymised CVs so that Black and Minority Ethnic and female candidates are not excluded before the interview stage because of their identity.
“This method of assessing candidates anonymously is used by the Green Party for recruitment, and it has been a simple and very effective measure. Employers of some 1.8 million people are operating this system, including the civil service, the BBC, the NHS and local government.
“If Sian Berry is elected Mayor of London she will ensure that all GLA direct recruitment, including by the police and fire service, and all organisations working with City Hall as contractors operate name-blind recruitment.”