California Governor Jerry Brown this week signed into law legislation making California the first state in the nation mandating gender quotas on private businesses. Senate bill 826, which Brown signed last Sunday, prescribes that all publicly held companies with their principal executive offices within the state of California (rather than where they may have been incorporated) must have at least one woman on their boards of directors by the end of 2019. Under the new quota law, companies with five directors must have two women sitting on the board by the end of July 2021 and those with six or more directors, at least three women. Failure to comply will subject companies to a fine of $100,000 for a first violation and $300,000 for violating the mandates a second time. It is anticipated that business interests will challenge the legality of the mandate in the courts. I may be “old school”, but I have to wonder about a couple of possible scenarios: If a male director self-identifies as a female, would that business be in violation or in compliance?? Similarly, since California legally recognized a third gender in just one year ago, if a woman serving on the board of directors considers herself non-binary or gender X, is the company still in compliance??  Should we call this progress??