The Women Quota Debate

Should equality between the sexes in the world of work be engineered?

• It’s one of the most polarising debates in Western societies: should women’s careers be brought on par with those of men with the help of artificial boosters - for the sake of equality?
• Gender parity targets have taken centre stage in many areas, be it to tackle female underrepresentation in politics or banking, but such "positive discrimination” is hugely controversial.
• Proponents argue that barriers faced by women in a wide array of professional fields are simply too stubborn and de facto insurmountable on scale to justify not implementing women quotas.
• Looking at politics, for instance, most countries have still never had a female head of government, and the gender pay gap has become testament to women’s systemic underrepresentation in the C-suite.
• Critics, predominantly men, believe gender quotas are plainly discrimination and result in the anti-meritocratic progression of women who aren’t suitable for particular roles.
• But women are also critical of gender quotas, fearing great reputational damage to women in the workplace who will be viewed as “diversity hires” instead of skilled employees who deserve their jobs.