Go Quota!

There are many reasons why quotas are no good. For one, they are “unfair” to those they disfavor, but also they are unfair to those they are intended to favor, because they tend to provide fertile grounds for office gossip.

And yet, they do what we have failed to do in any other meaningful way. They break through entrenched networks, racism and sexism, or, more generally speaking, they encroach on hiring practices that for eons now have favored the white male.

In fact, considering women and their particular life cycle which, as we all know, can impinge uncomfortably on their careers, I would actually propose an even tougher quota system.

Given that the most important time for women to make good money and move up on the career ladder is right when they come out of education, a strict quota system ought to secure their swift promotion at that point in their professional lives.

For one, if women get a head start and remain motivated, they may be far more likely to return to their swivvel chairs once their childbearing years are over. But also, it would give them a chance early on in their lives to make contributions to their pension funds.

This is crucial not only for personal but also for economic reasons as most countries around the world, including the US and Germany, don’t give any credit for the time women spent in child rearing - a blatant “oversight” which greatly contributes to high poverty rates among women in old age.

Quotas may not be fair, and they are definitely not a preferred option, but they are a decent plan B, where reasons beyond reasons blurr our decision-making.