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The explicit harm done to individuals by such a law is not a distant hypothetical; some non-zero number of people were discriminated against on the basis of the

The explicit harm done to individuals by such a law is not a distant hypothetical; some non-zero number of people were discriminated against on the basis of their gender, by the government, in order to fill a mandatory quota. It doesn’t do those individuals any good if you roll the laws back in a few years.

kennywinker 4y ago
> some non-zero number of people were discriminated against on the basis of their gender, by the government, in order to fill a mandatory quota. Your assumption is that board seats are being allocated to their rightful owners today, and this law would be a corruption of that. That’s a pretty big assumption. What rooms are you in where the ten most qualified people are _ever_ all male? Even in tech that’s not that common.
- teakettle42 4y ago
  No, the reality — not my assumption — is that there are a limited number of opportunities and the government mandated that men should be discriminated against when being considered for them.
  - Swenrekcah 4y ago
    I get it, I’m a man and this does me no favours. But it is also the reality that these seats aren’t really filled based on pure merit. It’s mostly (or at least a real prerequisite) a question if you belong to the right “club”. These laws expand the club a bit which I think is a good thing. I agree that the idea that decision making will be better simply because there are women is suspect.
- belorn 4y ago
  Looking at gender segregation here in Sweden, there are many class rooms where all the ten most qualified people are of the same gender. There are simply just many class rooms that have higher gender segregation than 90%, and many are practically single sex from the simple fact that all the students are of the same gender (teacher included). Many profession are also above the 90% segregation line, and most of them are women dominated professions. Most of those work places will have rooms where ten most qualified people are of the same gender. Most of those work places also have women dominating from the top. Tech is actually pretty much in the average in terms of gender segregation, at around 70%.
- kepler1 4y ago
  "Rightful owners"? Wow, I really hope you're not in any position of authority.

kennywinker 4y ago

> some non-zero number of people were discriminated against on the basis of their gender, by the government, in order to fill a mandatory quota. Your assumption is that board seats are being allocated to their rightful owners today, and this law would be a corruption of that. That’s a pretty big assumption. What rooms are you in where the ten most qualified people are _ever_ all male? Even in tech that’s not that common.

teakettle42 4y ago
No, the reality — not my assumption — is that there are a limited number of opportunities and the government mandated that men should be discriminated against when being considered for them.
- Swenrekcah 4y ago
  I get it, I’m a man and this does me no favours. But it is also the reality that these seats aren’t really filled based on pure merit. It’s mostly (or at least a real prerequisite) a question if you belong to the right “club”. These laws expand the club a bit which I think is a good thing. I agree that the idea that decision making will be better simply because there are women is suspect.
belorn 4y ago
Looking at gender segregation here in Sweden, there are many class rooms where all the ten most qualified people are of the same gender. There are simply just many class rooms that have higher gender segregation than 90%, and many are practically single sex from the simple fact that all the students are of the same gender (teacher included). Many profession are also above the 90% segregation line, and most of them are women dominated professions. Most of those work places will have rooms where ten most qualified people are of the same gender. Most of those work places also have women dominating from the top. Tech is actually pretty much in the average in terms of gender segregation, at around 70%.
kepler1 4y ago
"Rightful owners"? Wow, I really hope you're not in any position of authority.