Perhaps this is semantics, but I wouldn’t consider a legal mandate requiring some board members be women as jump starting gender equality and I certainly don’t see any benefit in forcing outcomes via coercion.
I also don’t think we even need to jump start gender equality of opportunity anyway.
My main issue with this philosophy is that what I believe is “the right thing” is not even remotely universal and I wouldn’t presume to force people to be charitable via coercion. Nor do I believe the government has any right to claim she know what is right based on a pretty long track record of doing just the opposite.
The main issue with this line of thinking is that it does not take into consideration a plethora of factors, of which there are many, that create the wage gap. Women tend to voluntarily choose to work in fields that are less lucrative (nursing vs. engineering), women tend to be less assertive (contract/pay negotiations), women tend to stay at home with children more often than men leading to less experience in a given field, etc… That isn’t to say prejudice can’t be or isn’t also a factor. It can be and is.