on the other hand affirmative action by imposing gender quotas in the labour market can entail greater efforts of firms to identify qualified women holzer and neumark and can encourage more women to participate in the competition for jobs niederle et al it distinguishes between legitimate differences in outcomes due to different choices made and illegitimate differences in outcomes that arise from discrimination or other impediments beyond one s control robeyns the pursuit of equality of opportunities between the genders means to strive for equal access to education health and the labour market and in a nutshell the elimination of any barriers that may hamper men and women to realise their individual aspirations