The Critical Mass Marker Approach: Female Quotas and Social Justice

Abstract

In this article I explore the theoretical and policy implications of direct state intervention into the constitution of corporate boards as a means to addressing institutional gender injustice. I consider the work of three prominent thinkers on affirmative action and institutional injustice, Ronald Dworkin, Anne Phillips and Iris Marion Young, and present an argument in favour of a specific form of state-administered female quota model which I shall call the Critical Mass Marker approach. I argue that this is a more refined and effective approach to institutional gender injustice than current affirmative action models.