Quotas of women being awarded a place on the board of companies.

[flip_flop]

On the news this morning it was suggested there should be a legal quota of women sitting on boards - apparently Sweden does this.

This is bananas isn't it?

Surely it should be on merit and merit alone, shouldn't it?

[anotheoldgit]

youngmafbog

/// I suspect it will accelerate once a) more women have been in work for lenghty periods and b) the old gits in the board room have been pensioned off. ///

Only to be replaced by 'old gits' in tweed skirts, what then?

[sp1814]

AOG

All British dialects (apart from received pronounciation), have extremes which are difficult to understand - some Northern Irish accents, Geordie, Scots and Welsh accents, to my Southern ears are almost incomprehensible.

However, in general, you'll find call centres choosing those with 'soft' accents.

With regards to India call centres, I sometimes find that they aren't able to understand MY accent, as opposed to the other way around.

[sandyRoe]

A quota might help to remove the glass ceiling that keeps some women from achieving their full potential in the workplace

[sp1814]

I think positive discrimination is laudible in its ambition, but laughable in it's application.

It simply encourages resentment, and even when you DO have able women on the boards of FTSE 500 companies, there will be those who assume they got there because of their gender (even when it turns out that this isn't the case).

The way to get more women into top positions is to make it as easy for women to reach the top as it is for men. This may include include better provision for workplace childcare, monitoring of training programmes to ensure that women aren't subconsciously sidelined (to counter the attitude of - "why bother training someone who's just going to go off and have kids?")

...basically, levelling the playing ground, without necessarily passing the ball to the female players at every possible occasion.

[anotheoldgit]

/// With regards to India call centres, I sometimes find that they aren't able to understand MY accent, as opposed to the other way around. ///

Surely understanding YOU should not be the first criteria in choosing call centre staff?

They should be understandable to all their customers, and unfortunately in my experience this is not so.

[anotheoldgit]

/// ...basically, levelling the playing ground, without necessarily passing the ball to the female players at every possible occasion. ///

All very commendable, but in the real world it does not just work.

As you have pointed out;

'better provision for workplace childcare'

'why bother training someone who's just going to go off and have kids'.

Until Men, Women, roles are reversed and Men are able to have children this is not going to happen.

This is one equality item that will never change, Men are the 'hunter gathers' and Women have the children and look after them.

Now dives for cover. :0)

[sp1814]

AOG

Some accents are tricky to catch...and this isn't something I have problems with *all* the time - just some of the time. I've had conversations with my bank's call centre in India whilst standing by a busy A role with no problem...and then on other occasions, I've had to spell every word, whilst sitting in a quiet office.

This is the fault of bosses who know that the biggest expense a large company has is staff...and the way to cut that expense is to go for the cheapest labour possible.

[emmie]

if it was on merit many of the blokes wouldn't be there, old boy network works wonders still. And no i don't think women should be allocated a place on a board just because they are women, merit alone for both sexes. Not a fair playing field though is it?

[sp1814]

AOG

The roles of men and women don't necessarily need to be reversed in terms of who gives birth, but our attitudes to 'stay at home dads' definitely needs to be updated.

If a woman out-earns her partner or has better career prospects, then there should be no social stigma with the man raising the kids.

This will take decades to 'bed in'.

[DTCwordfan]

My Business School had a quota on female entry and what happened?

Out of the bottom six struggling, four were women, as University insisted on a 4 per cent failure rate, so it was a big thing. Women totalled 14 in a class of 98.....

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

'Stay at home Dads' maybe but they still won't be able to carry for nine months and later to give birth, that's the difference.

[anotheoldgit]

Why do some women demand that they should do everything a man does, when men do not demand likewise?

Take men's clubs for instance, women demand that they should also become members, yet I have never heard of men demanding that they become members of women's institutions, why is this?

[emmie]

i don't demand, i can do and have done many jobs that men have done, and been better at it, but paid less, so not so much a demand, but please could we have a level playing field, equal pay for the same job.

[sp1814]

AOG

Men have demanded, and received privileges that used to be the exclusive preserve of women...such as paternity leave.

However, regarding men's clubs - it's not true that they have been forced to allow women member under the Equal Opportunities Act:

http://news.bbc.co.uk...k_politics/553847.stm

Very old link, but I couldn't find anything to support the argument that they ARE forced to accept women.

What women *have* highlighted is that in the old patrician world of business, being a member of a men's only club was an advantage in 'networking'.

The fact that men's clubs are not as prevalent as they once were could have something to do with the fact that younger men actually enjoy the company of women and wouldn't *want* to be in an environment where women were excluded.

Apart from strip clubs...apparently.