Businesses in European countries such as Norway are being pressured to add women to their board of directors both legally and socially. European countries are recognizing that there is something wrong with the fact that the majority of corporations are managed and directed by men. Norway has imposed a legal quota mandating that 40% of directorships must go to women. A survey in 2009 shows that only 10% of women in Europe were employed on top boards. This trails the U.S. with 15% of women on top boards. Ruth Sealy, a senior research fellow and deputy director of the International Center for Women Leaders at England's Cranfield School of Management says "social and cultural factors, along with traditional segregation of the sexes in various professions, explain why male domination has endured for so long — and why some countries may face a relative shortage of qualified female managers." I believe that a more gender diversified corporate America would help stabilize the male dominated vision that businesses take. A wider range of perspectives and opinions in leadership roles would minimize the risk and bad decisions that businesses take. I am talking about the same bad decisions that has inevitably taken America into the depression we are currently facing. Boelle Lenoir, an expert on thics for the European Commission, teaching at Columbia University's law school says that "One of the ways women are different from men is that we're more inclined to factor in social responsibilities and objectives along with business objectives and bottom lines," Lenoir says. "More women will alter the myopic financier thinking now dominating boards."
Although I agree that having more women in decision making positions would be a good way to diversify the current corporate American thought process, the question I must ask is, Is it constitutionally and ethically right for governments to impose legal quotas on businesses in the effort to ensure equality among genders?
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