Quota System and the Merit System

This essay discusses the perspectives on merit, quotas, and targets in society, and how the meaning of the quota system varies from country to country. It also explores the influence of industry context on the quota system and merit system.

Running head: QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
Quota System and the Merit System
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1QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
Merit refers to a positive quality within an individual that makes a person deserve the
praise or the reward. Merit is appreciated by the other people and it helps an individual in
getting an advantage over the other people. Quota system is indicative of reservation system
that necessitates the reservation of seats within legislatures and that of government jobs.
Quota system benefits the people who are from economically backward class and it plays an
important role in their development (Abc.net.au 2019) It plays a crucial role in addressing the
aspect of the historical oppression and the inequality that is faced by the minority
communities within the framework of the society. The targets are the recipients of the
benefits pertaining to the merit system and that of quota system. This essay discusses about
the various perspectives in the society in relation to “merit’, “quotas” along with the
“targets”. This essay discusses regarding how the meaning of the quota system varies from
one country to another. The essay also discusses how industry context acts as a crucial factor
which has influence on quota system and that of merit system.
Liberal women within Australia are of the opinion that the liberal men without any
kind of merit are rewarded in the political arena. This makes the women lose the element of
anti-quota fervour. Discrimination is faced by the women on account of the preconceived
notions in the society which has raised the concern within Australian society. It is found that
number of liberal women in federal parliament has undergone decline within Australia in the
event of Labor government losing out to the Coalition. In this particular case, Paul Keating
lost out to John Howard in year 1996 (Ft.com 2019). It was found that half of women had
lost out to Labour in elections which compelled seven members of the cohort to retire in their
own terms. Liberal Women had the forum which faded and this helped Liberal men in
gaining dominance over pre-selections of party. On the basis of the results, it was found that
out of the seven women was succeeded by a woman. Moylan was succeeded by the
personality of Christian Porter who had the post of the treasurer of that of West Australia.

2QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
Joanna Gash was the MP from the New South Wales who was replaced by woman of the
name of Ann Sudmalis. Ann Sudmalis at a later point of time became a crucial member in
relation to red shoe brigade. The leadership spill that took place in year 2018 made Sudmalis
who was a science teacher speak out against the norms of the time (Humanrights.gov.au
2019). Culture of intimidation was prevailing within modern Liberal party that was biased
against women. Sudmalis had to face bullying and it compelled her to retire in the federal
election. The results of the election brought out the fact that 13 of the 14 seats were
succeeded by the men that speaks of the dominance of the men in the Australian party
politics.
Immigration system lays focus on educated foreigners that can play an integral role in
increasing the number of the talented workers who enter workforce. It has been deduced by
various people that the system of merit can bypass the important element of talent that can be
instrumental in damaging growth of country (Theguardian.com 2019). There are various
people in the society who are thought of to be skilled but they are considered on account of
arbitrary caps and that of point system. The bureaucracy is another important factor that is
responsible for the creation of the culture of the suppression that has a negative influence on
the women working in the field of politics. Point system that is in vogue in Australia helps in
the arena of that of skill-driven immigration (Blackmore and Kenway 2017). Australia
accepts the refuges and it provides opportunity for the citizens of sponsoring members of
family.
There exist various kinds of debates in relation to quota system of Australia. There
exist problems pertaining to quotas as the tenets of the system are against the principles of the
democracy which is significant for libertarian parties. The quotas are imposed on the real-life
organisations and that of structures. Questions are raised in relation to the fact whether
women who gain office by taking recourse to “quota” can be further appointed based on the

3QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
merit system (Maddison and Grey 2016). Institutional opponents of gender quotas talk about
the fact that women who are not possessed of merit are being appointed to high positions
which has negative influence on governmental system. A legislation in India mandated the
fact that third of that of village leaders within a district are bound to be female. Towards the
end of year 2005, proportion of seats of local government had undergone improvement to 40
% from that of the 5 % which was beyond what has been stated in the legislated target (Norris
2019). The female chiefs used to make more amount of investment in the area of public
services as like in roads and that of drinking water. It played a crucial role in increasing
frequency of women speaking in the public meetings and who reported about the crimes.
Quota system can help in bringing in benefits for the people who suffer from various
kinds of disabilities and those people who belong to the minority class. It can be instrumental
in playing an important role in improving the standard of life of the people. It can improve
the social conditions of the people and make the people from the minority ethnic backgrounds
believe that they are important in relation to the social structure (Trimble 2016). It can help in
developing the confidence of the people that can contribute to improve the living standard of
the people. The concept of the “quota system” and that of “merit system” undergoes changes
owing to the passing of the time. The changes have undertaken global ranking of countries
based on political representation of women. Quota provisions have proved to be beneficial for
Argentina, South Africa and that of Costa Rica in placing themselves in a high position in
world league of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (Krook and Zetterberg 2017). There are
countries like Denmark along with Iceland and their position is being challenged in recent
age due to factor of the representation of the women. An effective instrument in relation to
Electoral gender quota can be useful for achieving the equality within society during the
process of implementation. The system of the quotas can be said to be unpopular in Europe
except in the Balkan area. The quotas takes up form of that of voluntary party quotas in the

4QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
Western Europe and exceptions exist in Belgium and that of France. In Central and that of
Eastern Europe there exist few parties who approve quota regulations. Analysis of data
discourse helps in revealing the fact that resistance to quotas in Western Europe can be said
to be connected to belief that quota system is in contrast to the principles of liberal
democracy. It can be stated to be opposed to that of merit system which is prevailing within a
country.
Quota provisions in politics can help in providing equal opportunities for the various
sections of the populations however it is found that resistance against the quota system is
strong. The demands of the quota have been found to be different in various countries. The
hidden assumptions exist in the society about the women and it has influence on that of quota
system. There are a large number of countries who think that the quota system is
discriminatory which violates fairness principle. Quota system can be said to be based on
position which is attributed to women in the society. There are other people who think that
quota system can serve as a compensation pertaining to structural barrier that prevents fair
competition in society. The quota system is responsible for the violation of the important
principles of the fairness along with the individualism which exists in the society. The quota
system can be said to be efficient which can help the people in the attainment of ‘real’
equality (Porter 2015). There are various barriers within the framework of the society which
prevents women from entering into politics. It can hence be stated that in these kind of the
cases the quotas are not discriminatory but compensation which women get as they have to
face the obstacles within the ambit of the society.
Liberal women residing in Australia does not have merit which has compelled the
women to lose the anti-quota fervour. Discrimination is perpetrated on the women in the area
of politics which has raised questions in Australian society. The skilled people in Australian
society are not provided with the opportunity of entering politics owing to influence of

5QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
bureaucracy. Within Australia, there exists point system that helps in reminding about the
element of skill-driven immigration. System of quotas and the merit changes with the passage
of the time. It has been found that global ranking of countries change on account of political
representation of the women.

6QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
References
Abc.net.au (2019). The little-known experiment that shows quotas can change more than
politics. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-11/how-
quotas-can-change-more-than-politics/10887336 [Accessed 21 Jun. 2019].
Blackmore, J. and Kenway, J., 2017. Gender matters in educational administration and
policy: A feminist introduction. Routledge.
Ft.com (2019). Australian boards reach 30% women target without quotas | Financial Times.
[online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/26a7e8fa-2462-11e9-8ce6-
5db4543da632 [Accessed 21 Jun. 2019].
Humanrights.gov.au (2019). Is there merit in quotas? The Australian context | Australian
Human Rights Commission. [online] Humanrights.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/there-merit-quotas-australian-context
[Accessed 21 Jun. 2019].
Krook, M.L. and Zetterberg, P. eds., 2017. Gender Quotas and Women's Representation:
New Directions in Research. Routledge.
Maddison, S. and Grey, S., 2016. Gender, Politics, and the State in A ustralia and N ew Z
ealand. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, pp.1-5.
Norris, P., 2019. Silver or Lead? Why Violence and Corruption Limit Women’s
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Porter, E., 2015. Women in Politics in Australia. Women, Policy and Political Leadership, 1,
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Theguardian.com (2019). The Liberal party merit myth, and why it's every man (or woman)
for themselves | Paula Matthewson. [online] the Guardian. Available at:

7QUOTA SYSTEM AND THE MERIT SYSTEM
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/16/the-liberal-party-merit-myth-and-
why-its-every-man-or-woman-for-themselves [Accessed 21 Jun. 2019].
Trimble, L., 2016. Pathways to the premiership: representation, motivation and impact of
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