I hear a lot of young women in science saying, “I don't want the position just because I'm a woman.” I don't think anybody ever got a position just because they were a woman, except maybe those very specialized programs, and then there was a stigma associated with it, which is a problem.
However, I do believe that, if institutions are not going to engage in processes that will shift the needle and affect culture, then we need to do something else. We have the 30% comply or explain, which hasn't done anything in 10 years for boards. Next, if you're not going to do it yourself, then we're going to have to bring in some kind of legislation that will do it, and it may be that it is quotas.
In order to do that, there has to be a whole plan in place to deal with the conflict that will come out of that, because inevitably there is a big piece in terms of organizational change management and conflict management that needs to be done, be in place, and be ready. You need to be ready for that before that's launched.
But quotas, or the implementation of quotas, is a way to make an unfair system fair. That messaging has to be absolutely explicit. It's a way to make an uneven playing field even. Quotas can work.