Why I have changed my mind on quotas - Women's Agenda

Why I have changed my mind on quotas

For my entire career I have fought hard for merit-based rewards and promotion. I have worked hard, done my time, filled in the gaps with study where necessary. My philosophy has been that if you work hard and achieve success for an organisation, then you will achieve your career goals.

But if that’s how it worked in reality there would be just as many women as men running companies and providing leadership on paid boards. The current numbers are bleak and going nowhere fast.

The penny dropped for me on quotas during the 2050 summit I attended last week at the Academy of Science in Canberra. The focus of the two days, spent with about 50 thought leaders from a variety of disciplines, was the future of Australia. We were asked to consider scenarios 37 years out and the different pathways we might take to achieve them.

I went there enthusiastically, believing that a very real scenario for growth would be a nation where men and women equally ran the country and big business. My vision for 2050 wasn’t as the year when we finally arrive at workplace equality. In a growth scenario we would have already progressed through the transformative state of equal representation years earlier. We need it to have been in place and running smoothly, naturally, without undue consideration or focus for at least five years. For that transformation to occur we would need a pipeline of women today working towards the leadership roles that are largely out of reach as the corporate world stands now.

Thinking about what it would take to get there from here was a massive and ugly reality check. Even the men in my group conceded it would never happen via evolution. Like the water restrictions imposed on Australian households in drought areas a decade ago, increasing the numbers of women in decision-making leadership roles is going to take more than an honour system to get the desired results. It is going to require an imposition.

It was a crushing moment for me. We discussed human behaviour and the reality that in many circumstances people are not as altruistic as we would like them to be. Men are not going to willingly choose someone who thinks differently to them to join their ranks. And they certainly are not about to vacate the role they currently occupy without a business imperative slapped in front of them. A recent report from EY revealed that corporate men were threatened by women. Those who spoke out against the culture of sexism in the corporate world included David Gonski, Alan Joyce and David Thodey.

And although there is a real and clear business imperative for diversity at the top of business in this country and globally — with compelling statistics to match, we can’t wait and hope for it to be worked out by those whose current self interests are tied to things remaining more or less the same.

I am proposing that quotas is the only certain pathway to gender equality in 2050. It’s time to admit that the current method of self-regulation based on guidelines is getting us nowhere.

Do you agree? Do you want to see real change in our lifetime?

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