Does “Positive Discrimination” Work?
“They only got the job because they’re a [insert minority group description]”. Many countries now have “positive discrimination” laws.
These groups may be divided by sex, ethnic minority, religion or many other categories. In some countries, (e.g. Malaysia) there are laws to discriminate positively in favour of the majority “Bumiputra” group (a relic of colonial days).
The intention of positive discrimination should be to ensure that all groups that make up a country’s population are equally represented and have an equal “say” in mainstream life, politics, business and all the other aspects that make up our world. They are designed to reduce “income gaps”: witness the ongoing debate about women being paid less on average than their male counterparts for doing exactly the same job.
Singapore, with its Housing Development Board (HDB) scheme, which aims to ensure everyone has somewhere to live, insists that the ethnic proportion of residents of HDB developments reflects the proportion of those groups in Singapore’s population. Thus, we see Chinese, Malays and Indians all living in the same development. This may lead to some interesting frictions at times, but by and large it is accepted.
Is positive discrimination a good or bad idea? Done right, it’s a good thing, particularly at the beginning where a clear imbalance exists, and groups are being disadvantaged for no good reason, except the benefit of others (not what democracy is about).
Long-term, however, it may do more harm than good as certain groups come to see it as an entitlement. Contrast the right of women to vote in the UK and other countries. This is now seen as normal and we would think it an outrage to bar them. Women on the Board of Directors of companies? Getting there, but some way to go. As for equality of pay, they’re still paid less in many cases.
Is the situation improving at the rate it should be/desired? As my teachers used to say in my reports, “Could do better”. The sooner we get it right, the sooner we can stop positive discrimination as a privilege with the attendant risk that it becomes seen as an entitlement.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Leadership, Social, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 08:21
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