7. Why do men choose not to work?
In America, around 7 million men between the ages of 25 and 54 are neither working nor looking for work. And that amounts to 12% of all men in those prime working ages – and that doesn’t count another 2 million who are looking for work but haven’t found it. Most of them are disproportionately low-income men who either dropped out of high school or didn’t go beyond a high school diploma. One big reason these men aren’t working or looking for work because they’ve realized that employers aren’t interested in hiring workers with few skills or little education so they’ve given up.
*You can watch full discussion video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5WYp5xmvI)
Reference:
Wessel, D. (2016, August 15). Men not at work: Why so many men aged 25 to 54 are not working. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/men-not-at-work-why-so-many-men-ages-of-25-to-54-are-not-working/
*The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.
8. What is "quota system"?
According to Cambridge Dictionary, "quota system is a method of setting a limit on how much of something a country or company is allowed to have, produce, import, etc." It is used in various fields, for example, in the politic world, universities, companies and so on. The definition from Cambridge Dictionary is a general term for quota system, but a specific term for quota system at companies are called hiring quotas. Hiring quotas are a method for establishing quantitative data and action points for hiring diverse candidates. Moreover, Hiring quotas attempt to increase the representation of historically marginalized or under-represented groups.
References:
quota system. (2024). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/quota-system
*It's one of the most reliable English dictionary.
Phr, T. F. (n.d.). Hiring quotas: 4 alternatives to quotas. EddySoftware. https://eddy.com/hr-encyclopedia/hiring-quota/
*It is an American company that dedicates in HR industry.
9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of quota system?
Here are the some advantages and disadvantages of quota system.
Advantages
- Quotas for women do not discriminate, but compensate for actual barriers that prevent women from their fair share of the political seats.
- Women have the right as citizens to equal representation.
- Women's experiences are needed in political life.
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion are some of the hottest corporate buzzwords and many organizations are looking for ways to take action to increase diversity so creating hiring quotas can be a useful tool for accountability within diversity hiring efforts.
- Quotas are against the principle of equal opportunity for all, since women are given preference over men.
- Quotas are undemocratic, because voters should be able to decide who is elected.
- Quotas imply that politicians are elected because of their gender, not because of their qualifications and that more qualified candidates are pushed aside.
- Many women do not want to get elected just because they are women.
- A strict hiring quota misses the mark on the underlying reason for the quota.
- Implementing them can cause its own disparate impact, making them a problematic solution.
References:
Quotas | International IDEA. (n.d.). https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas-database/quotas
*The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports democracy worldwide.
*It is an American company that dedicates in HR industry.
Written by Shioppy
You made use of some good sources to answer these questions. The statistic “7 million men between the ages of 25 and 54 are neither working nor looking for work” is rather shocking, as is the reason that’s given for it: Because they “realized that employers aren’t interested in hiring workers with few skills or little education.” I wonder how you felt this was relevant to the idea of establishing a quota system for females in politics, though. In the case of women who are “neither working nor looking for work” the situation is more complicated as they have triple roles in society: productive (work outside the home for money); reproductive (do the bulk of child care activities); and community building (do most of the work in PTAs or in other community organizations). So, “not working” for men can mean something quite different than “not working” for women. There is an expression “A woman’s work is never done” but there’s no equivalent expression for men.
ReplyDeletePlease be aware that some countries use different, specialized vocabulary to describe quotas or the factors that are thought to make them necessary. For example, in India, the terms “Scheduled Castes” and “Scheduled Tribes” are used to describe groups within India that were historically disadvantaged and who may require some sort of “affirmative action” in order to address structural and social inequalities and discrimination.
When you speak about the “advantages and disadvantages of the quota system,” it’s important to preface it by explaining from whose perspective the various points are coming from. From your list, it’s clear that these were not advantages and disadvantages that you yourself came up with or necessarily support, so it’s incumbent upon you to make some attempt at evaluating them to assess whether or not they have any validity. Some of them amount to “talking points” that aren’t backed up by data or facts. Others (such as “Quotas imply that politicians are elected because of their gender, not because of their qualifications and that more qualified candidates are pushed aside.”), I think, completely miss the point of why quotas are seen to be necessary in the first place: the fact that those with equally impressive qualifications either don’t feel that they should (or can) come forward and that, if they did, they wouldn’t have a chance.
Kenny here.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great inshight. You showed your efforts in being as transparent as possible. Although your topic was centered on women, I was amazed that you also delved deeper into the nature of male unemployment and on both pros and cons of introducing the quota system. It is true that many men feel that they are worthless due to their competitive nature. If they think that they are low status in a highly competitive hierarchy, they lose hope because they think: I'm poor, stupid, have no professional status, no one would have me as a partner, why bother try hard, I don't care anymore, I'll smoke a pack sigarettes a day, I'll drink to forget reality, and the spiral goes on.
To add, I was amazed of your neutral professionalism since you introduced both pros and cons of the quotas system. It is also true that quota systems could be criticized when people feel that it might be weaponized politically. But also, facilitating the participation of women in the workforce is also a primary importance. However, reality is harsh, there both liberal and conservative people, radical and open minded people, so we need a free discourse to choose the right path as a society, a win-win for everyone.