The author's assertion is simply that enforcing quotas does not empower women, and that instead it devalues the work and talent of the women who are ultimately

The author's assertion is simply that enforcing quotas does not empower women, and that instead it devalues the work and talent of the women who are ultimately represented at the conference. And I agree with her. Women shouldn't need quotas in order to be offered the same opportunities as their male counterparts. Of course, percentages matter, and the fact that far fewer women are represented in a conference may be a symptom of something else, as opposed to a direct bias by the conference organizers. What we need is more of the underlying data. To start, I'd like to know how many women submitted technical talks to begin with.