Thank you for your answer. I imagine we will just disagree with this one.

pass a law that rewards people because of their sex and not their merit"?

We live in challenging times. I hope that truly equal, merit-based opportunity will eventually be the outcome. I wish, too, that it could happen of its own accord, just by people paying more attention to all applicants and all employees.

Do you think that employers and boards actually look at all applicants equally and don't immediately default to the male applicant?

I've personally talked to too many women who couldn't make the step to "partner" in the case of law and accounting firms or couldn't get on the board despite numerous awards and merit-based recognition.

It might all be wrong. Maybe they'll change it in one year. I tend to agree with MLKing:

But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated.

It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless.

In my experience, feminism is about power -- with a goal to sharing power, not replacing one power with another. Again, thanks for considering my points.