A Future for Equality

As kids, we're programmed to view gender as a concept that distinguishes femininity from masculinity based on social and cultural characteristics, rather than biological differences. We've all heard of common stereotypes regarding both genders: Women are associated with the color pink, they are nurturing, and they're more likely to gossip. Men are associated with the color blue, and they're braver, stronger, and better at sports. Among stereotypes regarding gender, is the common myth that men perform more efficiently in positions of office or legislative seats.

In history, men have been viewed as superior role models. According to the chart titled "Most of the World's Nations Have Never Had a Female Leader," by the Pew Research Center, between the 50 year gap (1964-2014), only sixty-three of one hundred and forty-two nations have had a female head of government or state. In fact, in two-thirds of these nations, a woman was in power for less than four years. Women make up the majority of graduates almost everywhere in the developed world, but ironically, take up a smaller percentage of the workforce the further up the corporate ladder they go.

With assumptions creating such a division between men and women, certain countries have found it necessary to implement gender quotas laws, which require that a certain proportion of candidates for office or legislative seats be reserved for women. Gender quota laws have been implemented in developed countries, which have modern societies. Modernization goes hand in hand with attitudes regarding gender, giving more thought to freedom and gender-equality. The law is not present in developing or under-developed nations, where most societies continue to hold traditional values of gender roles, which assume that a man works and a woman stays home to care for her children.

Of course, controversy facing the law exists. The result can mean blocking off potential employees who are more qualified, just to fit the required percentage of gender quota within the workplace. For example, if there are ten qualified men, and eight semi-qualified women applying to work together, and only twelve people can be hired, the deserving men will not each be given the job, and vise versa. People should be judged on their qualifications, rather than their gender. My hope for the result of gender quota laws is for humans to realize that men and women are equally capable of performing efficiently in positions of office, legislative seats, and elsewhere, in any work place. The ultimate dream is for one day, to have equal political, social, and economic equality among all people in developed, developing, and under-developed countries. If this were to come true, gender quota laws would not necessarily need to exist. We are humans, our worth should not be determined by our gender.