The thing with quotas like this is that they're not being put on the board “regardless of their hiring prowess”. You hire the best people you can find of both g

The thing with quotas like this is that they're not being put on the board “regardless of their hiring prowess”. You hire the best people you can find of both genders. Sometimes that will mean a less qualified person will be put there who otherwise wouldn't, but that's by no means a guarantee. And it cuts both ways: if sexism meant that previously, better candidates who happened to be women were not getting hired, now they will be; on the other hand, the quota may mean that better candidates who happen to be men won't be hired.