I came across two interesting articles the first one is from Vineet Nayar titled “Creating Equality: The Female Leadership Factor” and the second one from Semira Soraya-Kandan titled “Women’s Quota – Paving a Path to Power and Diversity?” There have been some interesting comments and conversations around this topic.
My view is that the concept and initiation of quota depends on culture/traditional values/circumstances a society or a country has and this works as a lead or a foundation to what organizations are following. For example in some parts of India, like Goa the number of women in business and workplace are growing at a fast pace. In Goa you will find women working in shops, driving taxis, and as smart business executives and entrepreneurs. If we compare Goa to some other regions in India it’s a completely different scenario where quotas are the path for women to work.
Similarly, Germany has quotas, while in Poland it’s a Goa kind of scenario.
Whether its government or organisational management the challenge is to understand these drivers of culture/priorities/traditions and devise a customized framework for quotas and opportunities by region, country, society. This is the key aspect which needs to be focused before we implement a standard gender diversity/quota framework which might turn out to be ineffective.
In your opinion do we need to create opportunities, provide quotas or a combination of both ? I would love to hear your views on this ?
Tags: gen y, gender diversity, leadership, opportunities, quotas, women leadership
I’d say it’s best to strive for equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes. Quotas enforce equality of outcomes, but might be necessary if there has been no opportunity, let alone equality of opportunity. The hard part is knowing when the opportunity is equal so that you can toss out the quotas.
Hi Dave,
You have made an interesting point stating “The hard part is knowing when the opportunity is equal” and this where the understanding the gaps comes into play.
Again the equality of opportunity depends on the cultures/traditions and societies we live in.
Thanks for your sharing your thoughts.
Kapil