Should companies (businesses) ensure that they employ a quota (or fixed percentage) of women in all jobs, or is this an impractical concept? Discuss both sides of this debate, and reach a conclusion based on your own opinion.

Workplace quotas have been suggested for some time now, in an attempt to encourage gender equality in the workforce. The idea provokes strong arguments, which I will consider here. On the one hand, it can be said that quotas would allow women to enter traditionally male professions, ranging from surgeon to airline pilot.

This

, it is argued, would expand the pool of people available to do these jobs, and reduce inequality between the sexes.

Furthermore

, supporters of quotas claim that the procedure would encourage women into the workforce generally,

thus

increasing family incomes and improving the standard of living of many people and families. The other side of

this

debate is that gender quotas may simply be unenforceable in practical terms.

This

is because the number of women who wish to be (

for instance

) airline pilots or surgeons appears to be substantially lower than the number of men.

This

being the case, it would appear to be impossible to enforce a quota in many areas. A

second

point is that a quota should logically work for both genders, and

thus

men would have to be employed in traditional female roles

such

as primary teaching or nursing. Again, we would find ourselves asking men to take on jobs which they are not inclined to do. A final point is that the reduction of inequality should start at an early age, with equality of qualifications, career and life choices, rather than being enforced retrospectively by employers or the state. To conclude, it appears that the aim of these quotas is admirable, but they are unworkable in realistic terms due to the differing wishes of the existing workforce. A longer-term and the more thoughtful programme is surely needed.