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Comment by sdinsn | Hacker News Reader

Because it's not relevant. Job positions aren't coin flips. There are more men who work as welders, there are more women that work in nursing, for example.

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No, it's relevant, because if we first assume that men and women have equal distributions of skill at being board members, and you are given a choice between one of each at random, some companies would be forced to make sub-optimal choices.

There used to be more male lawyers than female lawyers.

There are more men in construction, let's make it a law to have more women work there.

If you think the reason there are fewer women on construction sites is that they don't want to work there, I'd encourage you to work on a construction site, like I have, and talk to the very few women that work there about their experiences.

Over the last few years there's been a marked increase in women working on construction sites.

Even if that's true, at the end of the day it's going to come down to biological differences. Men are overall, stronger than women, so when you find the best person for the job, you'll most likely end up hiring a bulky man. Same with firefighting where they need to carry heavy equipment and be able to perform their duties safely. So short of hiring women body builders, you're most likely going to end up with a man.

Why don't these "equal outcome" groups make a fuss about that? What about trying to get more men into nursing or day care?

Generally speaking these types of efforts are never about getting more men into various fields, because there's the perception - right or wrong - that men are already unfairly handed opportunities and their associated higher wages.

In other words, in the popular view, it's not discrimination if it happens against men. It's justice.

Note that I'm not advocating for or against this view.

Not only is it true, the fact that you're parroting the claim that construction isn't trying to address the gender imbalance of its field demonstrates that you don't know what you're talking about. You haven't seen the "fuss" because you aren't educated, and haven't made an effort to educate yourself, on the topic.

It's easy to throw insults and claims of ignorance. The other poster understood my point and made an appropriate response. You're avoiding answering the issue of bias against men.

Ok here's my answer.

> Why don't these "equal outcome" groups make a fuss about that? What about trying to get more men into nursing or day care?

They do. They are.

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