[cbozeman]

> Throwing away equity while chasing equality is a recipe for ushering in the next dark age.

I would argue trying to enforce equity to chase equality is your actual recipe for ushering in the next Dark Age.

Look at your Scandinavian societies for a model of what happens when you allow men and women the choice to live their lives as see fit without interference from the state, in the form of 'quotas' - you get some very interesting distributions. Something like 90% of all engineers in those societies are male, and something like 90% of women are nurses. Would anyone have the gall - to border on sheer stupidity - to claim that Scandinavian nations are holding back their women and oppressing them? Or is that equity isn't a very good goal... and that when you maximum equality, you'll also get massive differences in occupation because different occupations appeal to different personality traits and men and women do not have the exact same traits in the exact same quantities?

[throwawayboise]

I would dispute that the Scandinavian system does not have "interference from the state." The Scandinavian educational system seems more active at steering kids into career paths compared to the US model. From what I understand, kids are split into various vocational/college bound tracks after middle school based on grades and aptitude. In US high schools it seems that you're either college-bound, or a non-entity. If you're lucky your high school might have a vocational program which might have instruction in automotive repair, welding, or construction.

[SvenMarquardt]

I agree with your POV. I'm arguing throwing away equal opportunities (free education and career path choice for all Scandinavians) with the aim of chasing equal outcomes (50/50 gender split of nurses and engineers) is a fool's game.