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If I'm putting together a work group, where at least 30 percent of the members should be female and at least 30 percent should be male, would it be correct to say
The group should have a 30 percent representation of either gender.
If not, what would be the correct way to say this?
Saying "either gender" could be interpreted as either 30% male or 30% female. That wouldn't make much sense, so after a moment's thought I'd understand what you meant.
The other problem is that you don't want 30% of the gender, (several billion people at the last count) but 30% of the group. That means turning the sentence around
Both genders should be represented by at least 30% of the group.
Neither gender should have a representation of less than 30% of the group.
But it would be easier to just name the genders, say:
A least 30% of the group should be men, and at least 30% should be women.
That is clear and unambiguous.
Analysis: The group should have a 30 percent representation of either gender.
In specifying how many males (men) or females (women) should be in the group, it is more natural to use a fraction (1/3. 1/2, 1/4), rather than a percentage. Percentages are good for large numbers of people: Twenty percent of the voters decided to stay home.
Compare: One third of the board members voted to keep the dress code regulations.
[last one added post facto]
representation is not accurate here. "either gender" means one or the other. So, that is very accurate here.
