The conference involved various interest groups, which included women leaders in the country, representatives from the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services. It also involved university students and agencies who support affirmative action and gender equality.
The conference was held to discuss ways of achieving affirmative action, especially for the minority groups and the women in the society. The debate surrounded access to education, employment, and political representation. The major political discussion in the conference was that the women in the country are under-represented in leadership, as well as, decision-making roles in the public spheres even though they are the majority in the country, and also comprise of 40% of the country’s total workforce (Thies, Rosenbluth, and Salmond, 166). The argument was that the government should adopt a more comprehensive affirmative model that would ensure that more women are given the opportunity to participate in the country’s governance and management positions.
However, the debate did not come up with progressive methods of selecting women who will occupy the special seats and positions created for them. It remains a difficult task to find the answer to how the government would impose a quota to remedy the under-representation. Women and pro-equal opportunities for women argued that in the next five years, the government should have implemented structures that will ensure that women are equally involved in decision-making boards all the public sectors, and even in the non-governmental organizations. They insisted that equality quotas would allow the equal representation of minority groups.
The discussion held that in order to enhance gender diversity in the workplace, civil service included. The pro-women groups strongly voiced for affirmative action and transparency in recruitment in all organizations, both public and private. They suggested that every organization present annual reports to the public are indicating the number of women in senior management positions, boards, and within the organization. They also suggested that the government should initiate a program for mentoring top women executives in the country to help them get on organization boards. As a result, it was resolved that the government imposes quotas for female corporate directors.
The other important agenda discussed in the conference was encouraging education among females in the country. This would enhance the provision of equal opportunity for both males and females. Women’s educational attainment in the country is still low despite the programs that have been established to encourage education among females (Florida Department of Education 1). The pro-equal opportunities groups felt that it is important to involve more women in university and tertiary college management teams as heads of departments, schools, and deans. This would positively influence females’ education culture, as well as collegiality. Besides, it will give female students positive role models in education.
The debate on gender representation is part of the unilineal development, and panopticism discussed earlier in the course. It represents a continuation of a crack in the structural-functionalism which began in the 1950s (Lewellen 8). Many people today are fighting to achieve an equilibrium in political systems and other aspects of society (Foucault 197). The issue of gender equality and equal women representation in decision-making and governance has created constant tension for change in all societies across the globe.
Works Cited
Foucault, Michel. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Print.
Florida Department of Education. Gender Representation Among Professionals in Florida’s Public Schools. Florida: Florida Information Note, 2003. Print.
Lewellen, Ted. Political Anthropology: An Introduction, 3rd Ed. London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. Print.
Thies, Michael, Rosenbluth, Frances, and Salmond, Rob. Welfare Works: Explaining female legislative representation. Politics & Gender, 2 (2006):165-192.