On Sat, May 7, 2016 at 1:33 PM, Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> wrote: > On Sat, 7 May 2016 06:35 am, beliav...@aol.com wrote: > >> This not "equal opportunity". It is a quota system. > > I must ask, what do you think the phrase "quota system" means? > > Who is setting and enforcing this quota, and given that only about 1 in 20 > Python programmers is a woman, do you think men are seriously missing out > on any opportunities? >
The problem with quotas isn't "women don't deserve to be heard" (because they most assuredly do!), but that a restriction can sometimes force awkwardnesses that weren't there to start with. It's unlikely to be an issue at PyCon, but the same problem has come up in other contexts. A great summary comes from the TV show "Yes, Minister" [1], in which the eponymous Minster wishes to promote a woman, and aiming for 25% women in senior positions (a quota, exactly on par with "alternating questions from men and women"). In that case, the "quota-promoted" woman objected, specifically because she didn't want to be part of some 25%, she wanted to go somewhere that would respect her for her accomplishments. So it's possible to disagree with the quota system without disagreeing with the goal it's trying to accomplish (or, conversely, without agreeing with the imbalance that it's trying to address). It's a sensitive matter that has to be handled carefully. In the case of PyCon questions, I fully agree with it; there were enough women present that it wasn't a ridiculous suggestion, and it encourages people to speak up who might otherwise have kept quiet. But just because that worked well, it doesn't mean we should automatically enact quotas everywhere, as some sort of "gender/race/culture imbalance panacea", because it isn't. ChrisA [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Opportunities_(Yes_Minister) -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list