Woman power wanted 02/04/2008 00:00
The largest Dutch Labour union, FNV, wants 40 percent of top Dutch positions to be filled by women in the next four years.
2 April 2008
AMSTERDAM - The largest Dutch Labour union FNV wants 40 per cent of top Dutch positions to be filled by women within four years.
Speaking in an interview in Dutch daily Volkskrant, FNV chairwoman Agnes Jongerius said implementing a minimum quota for the percentage of women in certain positions was the best way to increase female participation in these positions.
Jongerius says the system has proven very successful in Norway.
"Employers have been claiming for years they have the best interests in mind concerning women," Jongerius was quoted as saying.
"But why should I believe that? In the past 25 years it has been demonstrated women do not get to those top positions."
The FNV is trying to convince parliament to debate a minimum quota for women in top positions.
A recent study by Eurostat said only one in four top positions in The Netherlands was filled by a woman.
[Copyright dpa 2008]
1 reaction to this article
Herman D. HugeLoad IV posted: 03-04-2008 | 2:17 PM
Quotas solve nothing. Mandating x% women, y% minorities [fill in your chosen ethnicity here] or any other "aggrieved class" by percentage is an asinine idea.
The goal is to fill jobs with qualified people, not promote based on equal-opportunity-to-screw-up.
IF there's an emphasis on getting it right in the workplace, a more worthwhile effort would be to ensure that no qualified person was *excluded* because of gender, ethnicity, religion, or other "distinguishing factors" - but oh yes, that's hard - how do you do that in practice?
Yes, that's a daunting challenge to figure out, but the results are beneficial to the marketplace as a whole, much more so than sitting back and contemplating the chaos resulting from quotas and equal opportunity shell games.
Although it may occasionally seem like it, this isn't the former Soviet Union, the unions as well as the legislature should begin to get accustomed to an open and transparent workplace and market. I say "begin to" because openness and transparency are the LAST things either party wants to see as of this moment. Exemplified by; "You don't need to know! - WE understand how to solve these things, now go away"
They seem to forget....we vote.
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