Quote: (03-06-2012 05:09 AM)flashbang Wrote:
The EU seems determined to get more women into management positions regarless of their suitability for it.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vie...men.409764
What's your take on this?
For the record, I'm Third Way/Centre Left.
There is no legal barrier preventing women from seeking boardroom positions. There is no organized gender apartheid or "patriarchy". Women do not come from a pre-existing socio-economic disadvantage. There is no reason why a modern woman could not become say a CEO of a multinational company if she chooses to go down that path and is a suitable candidate for the job.
But the fact is, most women don't want to be on boardrooms, at least not the scale that men do.
Most women choose low paying fields like education, nursing or being some bullshit secretary. Women are underrepresented in big business by choice.
That said, there are some women who are boardroom material, do a quick Google search and you'll find a few from your state or country. Unless they live in say Norway which has quota laws, these women deserve to be in their positions on their own merit. HOWEVER, if a quota law were introduced you would start seeing lower quality people infiltrate the top end of companies, since women will be given a huge relative advantage in reaching the top.
Assuming men and women would make equally able board members (which is debateable), if women make say a quarter of a bank's middle management but MUST make say 50% of a boardroom, then obviously you're going to see a flood of women reach those positions who don't deserve to there. Which in itself is discriminating against men. If feminists want to achieve "gender equality" in the corporate world, then a quota system is merely a band aid fix. Any such "affirmative action" should happen organically, the law can't favour one group or the other like this, because that in itself is discrimination. If the EU or the feminist movement want more women in boardrooms, they should call for more women to enter related fields and climb the ladder, rather then giving them positions they don't deserve. Good luck to them in getting women to choose career paths which they just don't want to take (barring a few outliers).
Collary: I'm a fan of seeing disenfranchised (read: significantly more poor and uneducated then the countries average) groups making gains in the academic and business world, but affirmative action quota systems are not the way to do it. In an ideal world (I don't believe this would ever come to pass), everybody would be given a fair go to succeed in life (ie no poverty, humane accommodation, lack of crime filled ghettos, intact families, decent education system), but from that point onwards it all comes down to individual merit.
In summary: Women face no legal or socioeconomic disadvantage in getting onto boardrooms. Therefore if a woman can't get there through her own hard work and/or skillset, then she should not be there.