> Xavier Fontanet, former chief executive of Essilor, a French eyewear company, quoted Charles de Gaulle as saying “one may not command without having obeyed”—his point being that women often lack the management experience that makes a good board director.
who would have thought that we'd hear this argument in 2017!!
Personally, I don't think things like this can be mandated. Yes, there is a gender gap between men and women and yes that needs to be fixed, but you need to target from the ground level and not from the board level.
What we, as a society need to do is to encourage men to be less sexist, for instance, a manger who can hire a male and a female who are both eligble should not hire a male because he 'doesn't want female', that needs to be fixed.
But I think it is wrong to say "hire 5% female candidates"
Because that is not equality. I have seen the reservation system in India and it is horrible, to be honest, it only helps the top % people but the bottom of the food chain is exactly where they were since the start, the bottom of the food chain.
Interestingly, 'reservation for women' was rejected by the female freedom fighters of India because 'they didn't want the superficial equality rights that women want in a few developed democracies' referring to obviously the suffrage movement.
But that being said, the gap exists and it'd be stupid to say that it does not.