Quotaism
is the concept of organizing society by a quota system, whether by racial, gender, language or another demographic attribute. Examples of quotas include
gender quota
A gender quota is a Quotaism, quota used by countries and parties to increase women's representation or substantive equality based on gender in legislatures. Women are largely Women in government, underrepresented in parliaments and account for a ...
s,
racial quota
Racial quotas in employment and education are numerical requirements or quotas for hiring, promoting, admitting and/or graduating members of a particular racial group. Racial quotas are often established as means of diminishing racial discrimi ...
, and
reservations. The basic premise is to have demographics represented at all levels and aspects of the civilization according to national statistics.
A quota system is often part of any
affirmative action
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
policies, but in those cases it is mainly used as a "target", within a single entity. Quotaism applies to the whole country and is enforced by legislation on all public and private entities.
Implementation
Bangladesh
* The
Bangladesh Civil Service
Bangladesh Civil Service (), popularly known by its acronym BCS, is the civil service of Bangladesh. Civil service in the Indian subcontinent originated from the Imperial Civil Service which was the elite higher civil service of the British Empir ...
reserves 5% of its positions to the children of
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...
veterans, 1% to the
indigenous peoples in Bangladesh, and 1% to disabled people. There have been demonstrations by university students calling for a drastic reduction in these quotas, or their complete abolition.
Brazil
* Higher Education – In 2012 the Brazilian government introduced legislation for federal universities, where spots are
reserved according to the racial make-up of each Brazilian state.
European Union
Directive (EU) 2022/2381 requires that all EU member states pass a national law by 28 December 2024 that requires that by 30 June 2026 women hold at least 40 % of non-executive director positions and at least 33 % of all director positions at listed companies.
India
*
Reservation - a form of quota-based affirmative action directed by constitutional and statutory laws, half of all the vacancies in government is reserved based on caste, tribe or gender ie. mainly marginalised indigenous SC/ST communities.
*
Economically Weaker Section
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in India is a subcategory of people having an annual family income less than and who do not belong to any category such as SC/ST/ OBC (Central list) across India, nor to MBC in Tamil Nadu. A candidate who doe ...
- 10% quota is given in colleges for under graduation and post graduation studies.
* Higher Education - The
University Grants Commission (UGC) provides financial assistance to universities/colleges which adopts a reservation policy for admissions and recruitment.
* Sports Quota - Sport ability can be a criterion for being hired for none-sports positions.
South Africa
Local trade unions commonly use the term "Absolute representation" in this regard.
*
BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) – Companies are scored based on the quota of black ownership, senior managers, training, as well as suppliers. These scores then translate into their ability to compete for government tenders.
*
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
– The SAPS (South African Police Service) operates a quota system policy for hiring and promotion. Positions will be left unfilled if the appropriate demographic candidate cannot be recruited, even if another qualified person is available.
* University Enrollment – First year students are registered on a racial quota basis. In some cases there are different admission requirements for different demographics. For example: to study medicine at the
University of Cape Town (UCT), white and Indian students require at least a 78% average on their National Senior Certificate, whereas black students only requires 59%.
This is largely as a result of the quota system requiring privileged access for certain ethnic groups - In 2016 the University of KwaZulu-Natal quota for medical students is 69% black African, 19% Indian, 9% coloured, 2% white and 1% other.
* Sport - In 2013, then Sports Minister
Fikile Mbalula
Fikile April Mbalula (born 8 April 1971) is a South African politician and current Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC) since December 2022. He was a cabinet minister between 2010 and 2023, most proximately as Minister of Tr ...
has imposed quota systems in athletics, cricket, football, netball and rugby.
See also
*
Gender quota (disambiguation)
*
Jewish quota
A Jewish quota was a discriminatory racial quota designed to limit or deny access for Jews to various institutions. Such quotas were widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries in developed countries and frequently present in higher education, o ...
*
Tokenism
In sociology, tokenism is the social practice of making a perfunctory and symbolic effort towards the equitable inclusion of members of a minority group, especially by recruiting people from under-represented social-minority groups in order for th ...
References
{{Reflist
Politics and race
Ethnicity in politics
Affirmative action
Quotas