GENDER QUOTAS, AN UNWISE
EXPERIMENT
The ongoing debate about the under-
boardrooms should be re-framed to consider
the low female presence in science and
engineering, where the UK's economic future
lies. Addressing the imbalance requires a
cultural shift in education, not EU-imposed
gender quotas, which would give rise to
tokenism.
Only one fifth of female students take physics
at 'A' level and one third mathematics. This is
reflected in those studying the subjects at
university. It is, therefore, unlikely that many
women will be qualified to rise to the levels
of seniority in advanced engineering demanded
across the piece by EU proposals to change
the gender balance in Britain's board-rooms.
Commentators and Government ministers
refer to the glass ceiling. They say that while
women have made headway in
being
promoted in FTSE 100
companies, this has
been mainly at a
non-executive, rather than
the more demanding operational level.
In order to change the gender balance at
the top, girls should be encouraged to make
different choices in
the subjects they
study
at school. Create the necessary
pipeline
from which women will emerge to
take up
senior positions on merit. Failure to accept
this reality with talk of
glass ceilings and
EU-imposed
gender balance is vacuous
and will not improve Britain's eonomic
performance.
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