A Frenchwoman who participated in a five-month internship at a conservative French newspaper claims she was rejected for a position at the Paris opera due to her right-wing past.
The woman, named Adelaide, claims that she applied for several jobs following her internship at the Valeurs Actuelles newspaper and received a job offer from the Association pour le rayonnement de l’Opéra national de Paris (AROP), who gave her an interview earlier this week.
In an opinion article for Valeurs Actuelles, she said her experience during the interview began normally until the interviewer questioned her on her past at the newspaper and articles she had written for other French conservative media outlets, branding them “far-right”.
“Not wishing that ‘my past’ would interfere with the interview, I explained to [the manager] that having studied five years at the Sorbonne and forged precious links with left-wing students, I have no trouble working with people who defend ideas opposed to mine,” Adelaide wrote, explaining that she was impartial in her work.
Nevertheless, she said that the interviewer told her that other employees were from “immigrant backgrounds” and she would not be able to “promote the diversity line of the Paris Opera,” and that the interview was therefore a waste of both of their time.
After being confronted on the issue of diversity of opinion, the interviewer allegedly told Adelaide, “Madame, racism is not an opinion, it is a crime,” allegedly adding: “The world of culture is left-wing, don’t waste your time applying.”
Woke hiring practices in various institutions are nothing new, however. In December of last year, for example, Oxford University in the United Kingdom proposed a system of woke scores when considering the qualifications of prospective academics looking to work at the university.
Oxford’s race equality task force even demanded that candidates show their commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as part of the hiring process.