A
form usually given out with an
application form for a
job, and containing questions about the
sub-group identity of the
applicant: often
race,
ethnic origin,
nationality or
national origin (though these are often
conflated in a way that makes anyone with a complex or mixed
background tear their hair out),
gender,
disability,
marital status, occasionally
sexuality or
sexual orientation, and whether you
have care of children or other
dependants.
Normally, you will be asked not to fill in your name on the form, and to leave it detatched from the application form itself, though there will always be a place for a code to be filled in, to link the form to your application.
This form is meant to be used in order to monitor the relative number of successful and unsuccessful applicants who come from each of these populations, compared to either the local or national numbers who belong to them. They should be able to tell the employer if they reject a disproportionate number of male candidates, for example, or don't ever have any Asian job applicants.
In practice, it's not at all unusual to find institutions who've been using these forms for years, but can't give you any breakdown of the results. Often, it seems, they don't even bother to generate the statistics. At best, the categories included on the form can give you a general idea of whether the institution has thought at all about equal opportunuties in any given area. Often, you'll just get the impression that the employer just saw that everyone else has one, and thought they'd join in.