That's actually not true. At a certain size of company and especially if the company does work for the federal government they are required to gather demographic information to ensure they are trying to not just have a bunch of white dudes applying for their job. Those questions should not influence the hiring process at all (if they do then it's illegal since those are protected traits).
If you don't want to answer them then just answer it by stating you don't want to tell them. It's an option on every application I applied too.
In theory that information can only be collected for statistical purposes and should have no bearing on the hiring decision. Any well run org will not show that information to people reviewing resumes, the liability is just too great.
A senior Disney exec was recently caught on hidden camera saying:
> Certainly, there have been times where, you know, there’s no way we’re hiring a white man for this…. There are times when it’s spoken.
> Reporter: How would they say it?
> There’s no way we’re hiring a white man for this role. They’d be very careful how they’d message that to agents.
But this was captured by a controversial source, James O'Keefe's company, whom some consider an old-school journalist and others consider a prima facie con-man.
Whether or not this particular admission is 1) true and 2) from a real Disney exec, would it surprise anybody if this sentiment were common and barely concealed in large orgs?
You can only vilify a demographic group for so many years in a row before university students get into positions of power in big orgs and make sure that the vilified demographic gets shafted whenever possible, in the interest of "fairness".
In some jurisdictions it's not legal to ask, so they have to wait until the interview stage to suss out how non-heterosexual, non-white, and non-male you are.
If you don't want to answer them then just answer it by stating you don't want to tell them. It's an option on every application I applied too.