In Norway, a woman's place is in the boardroom.

An exercise in idiocy.

Yeah.

40%?

One thing that I'm seeing a lot lately (at least one study, I think more), is that it is not so much that women can't take the highest-level positions, it's that they won't. It's that women are far more likely than men to want to have an element of balance -- not too much power, not too much responsibility, just a job that earns enough to live comfortably.

Or, at least, that men may have that same desire but feel more pressure to achieve in spite of it. While neither get enough respect for this IMO, a woman is more likely to be validated in her decision to spend more time with her family and less working than a man.

I wish the emphasis would go the other direction -- allowing men, and everyone, more opportunities for balanced lives if they want them -- than towards narrowly-defined "achievements".

Since in most countries women outnumber men, it seems right to have an even balance between male and female jobs.
In some industrial nations, there are more women graduating from universities than men.

The Women of Saturn

More than 1.3 billion kilometers away from Earth, the Cassini space probe is beaming back sensational images of Saturn and its moons. Two women have been particularly crucial to the mission's success: one is controlling the craft and the other is taking pictures.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,396260,00.html

That's very cool. Not sure what it has to do with this discussion, though. Of course there are women who are very good at their jobs in all fields. Just, does that mean that this 40% number should be enforced?

Is there actually a lack of balance between male and female jobs?

Or is it that there is not a balance between males and females in certain TYPES of jobs?

I'm all for equality of opportunity, but you don't seem to have addressed my point that in sum, women are more likely to CHOOSE to have a more balanced life. What I mean by that is that they are more likely to PURPOSELY forgo the promotion if it means longer hours and more stress than a man in a similar position.

If there are some sort of measures taken to help this along, like better childcare provisions or more incentives for men to be a major caretaker, I'd reconsider, because I'd love to see those measures taken no matter what the impetus. But I don't see getting women into 40% of the seats of companies listed on the Oslo bourse as something that is necessarily important or productive, in and of itself.

sozobe, you may have a good point. On the other hand many competent women are getting frustrated by the 'old boys club' methods. Many career women don't want to be married, their work is more important to them.

I remember the time when black NFL quarterbacks had to come to Canada to play in their position. Times change and outdated rules have to be altered to create equality.

Not long ago women were not allowed to vote, they were not persons, lol.

The Europeans seem to be a step ahead of us. Perhaps in a decade we will shake our heads about the norms as they exist now.