Politics: It’s time to talk about quotas for men

Dr Rainbow Murray of QMUL's School of Politics and International Relations argues that it is time to "reframe gender quotas as quotas for men." - When we talk about "gender quotas", what we really mean is quotas for women. We see the under-representation of women as the problem that needs fixing. So we try to explain why there aren't more women in politics, then look at measures to boost women's representation. The result is that women are subjected to intense scrutiny and suspicion. Is it appropriate to select candidates based on sex rather than merit, and do we risk replacing competent men with incompetent women? Conventional arguments are misguided because they assume that the current system is a meritocracy, which in fact is not the case. We overlook the problems caused specifically by having too many men, and do not subject men to the same scrutiny that women face.