25% of corporate board members must be women by 2004...

...or business face "legislative action" through quotas.

Nevermind that fully-qualified men will now get turned away from a job because a company fears being sanctioned by the government. Nevermind that it is the responsibility of the company to hire the right person for the job. And neverfuckingmind that government has no business telling businesses who to hire. None.

It doesn't matter if some of these quota-ed women do well and suceed in their jobs. It doesn't matter if unqualified dishonest men get turned away from a job. It also doesn't matter if a quarter of the corporate boardroom workforce is female, Asian, or homosexual.

If people want more women in positions of power in businesses, then gawddamn it, give them tough goals and challenge them to improve themselves so they become more attractive to those companies. Sexism is not necessarily the reason why women are underrepresented in everything. Perhaps - perish the thought - the human resource departments don't see enough qualified female candidates.

It's in the best interests of a company to hire the best people it can. It simply does not matter what exalted, opressed, or marginalized minority, at-risk group, or under ignored class is choosen for the job. It is woefully unjust to use the force of government to legally keep people away from jobs simply because of some characteristic.