Sir, – With reference to Fiona McCann's article (Weekend Review, October 19th) on the relative numbers of male and female speakers at the forthcoming Web Summit in Dublin, surely the content of what speakers at such conferences say should matter more than their gender?
Regarding gender imbalances generally, why is it so often the case that when men are in the majority in a particular field this is perceived as an issue, with calls for gender quotas and the like to redress the imbalance, whereas no corresponding perception seems to exist when the reverse is the case – as is the case in areas such as primary school teaching, and is likely to be in the future in fields such as law and medicine?
Lastly, I have always understood equality of opportunity, a concept with which I entirely agree, to mean giving priority to merit irrespective of factors such as gender, etc, but this is not the same as pursuing gender balance as an end in itself which, in some circumstances at least, may end up doing more harm than good. – Yours, etc,
HUGH GIBNEY,
Castletown,
Athboy, Co Meath.