Originally Posted by
Australopithecus
On quotas: I would hate to be considered a token hire by anyone. I don’t like flying with people who have to constantly prove how good they are to counter some real or imagined bias.
It's a fine line and, like everythning, not clear cut.
In a perfect world, if less of a certain group seek employment, or indeed are less SUITABLE for a particular type of employment, no-one should be suprised or upset of they are under-represented.
Where it get's tricky is WHY are they underrepresented? If part of it is not because of the capabilities or aspirations of the group involved, but in the TREATMENT of that group by others, some steps towards reparation is not only justified, it is beneficial.
I read a study which showed that something like 40% of the growth in western ecconomies in the last half century was due to the increased participation of groups previously marginalised. The number of people who COULD have been major contributors to society but were instead pushing a broom because they were black, or baking cookies because they wewe female, meant we ALL missed out on the benefits of capable people fulfilling their potential.
In recent history, Women weren't PERMITTED to be airline pilots. So, of course, airline flying was exclusivley male. Simply removing that prohibition doesn't instantly fix the problem, as now women had to enter an exclusivley male domain, and that in itself is a huge disincentive.