That women are still not treated equal to men isn’t a secret. Many women have to experience disadvantages just because of their gender. Sexual harassment, prejudices and unequal opportunities are just some to mention. Moreover, females are way underrepresented in politics and economics. Even though the government should represent our society, there are only 27.5% females in the current congress. Also, in business women only have 28% of board seats on the Russell 3000 index of publicly traded companies. Men are two to three times more likely to hold senior management positions. In addition, women earn about $10,000 less than men - this is considered the gender wage gap. This gap is even worse for Black, Latina and women of color. As we can see from these numbers, women are underrepresented and still marginalized.
However, women aren’t necessarily less qualified than men - their performance just tends to be more underrated. Women are on average 30% less likely to be called for a job interview than men with the same characteristics. One way to create more visibility for women is a gender quota. This is a tool to increase women’s representation in politics and businesses by requiring a certain number or percentage of women in leading positions. For example, 40% of board members must be female.
At first, it may be argued that gender shouldn’t play a role whether someone gets a job or not. A person should be chosen because of their qualities. A gender quota might be considered unfair, or women don’t like to be chosen just because of their gender. I can understand these points to a certain extent. However, currently our society is not at a point where gender doesn’t play a role anymore. Women, especially Black, Latina and women of color, experience disadvantages. A gender quota is not about erasing men’s merits, it is about removing obstacles and leveling the playfield for women. It could ensure that our government truly reflects the population it represents. Businesses which established a gender quota in their leading positions noticed smarter decision-making. A diversified board brings more opinions, ideas and life realities into a business. Non-male persons can offer different perspectives that haven’t been taken into consideration yet.
In my view, a gender quota is a good way to create more diversity. Our society is so diverse but usually this isn’t represented in politics or economics. I don’t think that we should have a gender quota forever but at least till we reach the point where women are treated equal to men.
Questions
What do you think about a gender quota?
Should a gender quota be mandatory in congress or leading business positions?
How high should this quota be (30%,40%,50% ...)?
Sources
https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/levels-office/congress/women-us-congress-2022
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/03/what-is-the-gender-wage-gap-in-your-state.html
https://thefeministshop.com/blogs/the-feminist-shop-blog/gender-quotas
https://fortune.com/2022/09/30/how-many-women-sit-corporate-boards-record-28-percent-russell-3000/
https://www.gendereconomy.org/the-debate-about-quotas/
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/465074-why-american-politics-needs-gender-quota/
Replies
I think that there should be no quota because women are already getting way more attention then men and besides if girls have a problem with it they can go on any social media platform and post how there day is soooo bad and get tons of comforting comments but when a guy does it its a problem so no there should be no quota and it should not be mandatory in anything. The quota should be no percent and as a saying always goes is life isn't fair.
I can see how gender quota can be helpful, but I don't think it should be mandatory. I think you should get payed based on the quality of work you put out. If a man puts out the best quality of work then he should get payed the most and same with a woman.
I can understand your point. Of course, the qualities and work of the person who gets the job still matter.
For example a job, I believe that a person should be payed by how good they are at it. If a guy is better at the job, then he should get payed more. Same vice versa.
I think we shouldn't have this, if we want to have woman treated fairly we can't only focus on them. I think it could be unfair to men and just because their is more men in something doesn't mean we told women no. To some points this would be helpful, but I think it would also start a problem with being un fair to men.
If you don't want women to be treated differently than men, then people shouldn't victimize women. The fact that more men are on Congress isn't sexist, it is just that more people wanted the men, and the women didn't get the jobs, or more men applied. I think that if more men want to have a certian job, that a gender quota shouldn't be stopping them, because "there need to be more women". Maybe there are more men in certain jobs because the women who wanted them weren't qualified, or just weren't as good as the men chosen. I don't think that this is an example of sexism, I think that it is just about who is doing the jobs better- and it happens to be men in that case.
Personally, I would doubt that there are so many more men than woman who want to get into congress or top positions in business. I think that there are also many qualified women but they just have to work harder because they are facing prejudices and are judged by their gender.
I guess it all depends on the quality of your work, what job you are doing, and how that all compares with others in your company. I think that a gender quota would be a good idea, but then you get down to the details, like what about the people who don't identify as either male or female? What would you do with them? Obviously women shoud be represented equally to men, and I think that a gender quota could help with that.
I think if a woman is doing the same job as a man and doing just as good (or better) she should get paid equal to him. However, I think If a woman is doing an easier job than a man is doing then she should get paid less. I feel if a person is doing hard work they and everyone else doing that work should be paid equally.
I think so too. Unfortunately, that isn't the case yet. Mostly women are still getting paid less than men who are doing the same job.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next