HISTORY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

History of Affirmative Action

History of Affirmative Action

Introduction

Affirmative Action as defined by the Meriam Webster's Dictionary is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women. Affirmative action refers to the protection of the rights of minorities to obtain employment. All employers these days are assumed to provide equal opportunities for employment to all groups of society. This means that there is no conscious effort to bar minorities such as women, or ethnic groups consisting of immigrants, or the disabled from soliciting and obtaining jobs for which they are qualified. It also means that there has to be equal competition between these minority groups and the majority which basically consists of white males, for each job.

In short, affirmative action is a tool to provide equal rights to minority groups with in the country, in the spirit of the constitution of the United States of America.

It is almost 50 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and "the equal rights of men and women" were affirmed internationally.

Outline

The paper is further divided in to several parts which are as follows:

Background

Basic Principles in Affirmative Action

Concluding paragraph

Background

Affirmative Action is a phrase heard in the public and private business sectors, however, is poorly understood as to exactly what these two words entail. Affirmative denotes a positive or confirming aspect to a situation and action represents an achievement or accomplishment (Answers.com, 2008). This paper will describe a brief history of Affirmative Action and its elements as it applies to public sector and private sector employees, as well as interactions with Title VII requirements of Equal Employment Opportunity. Several factors that will be addressed will be: what employers are subject to affirmative action plans and why, what the plans require employers to do, and what happens if employers do not meet the goals of the affirmative action plan.

Bennett-Alexander and Hartman describe Affirmative Action in their book Employment Law, as the “intentional inclusion of women and minorities in the workplace based on a finding of their previous exclusion”. The policy focused on equality in educational and employment opportunities for minorities. Many people associate Affirmative action as being under Title VII; however, affirmative action is actually a requirement imposed by Executive Order 11246 (Sykes, M, 2008).

Initially introducing the concept of affirmative action was President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 when he signed order 8802 outlawing segregation type hiring practices. This order went through several revisions, and a few Presidents, until President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the current version, Executive Order 11246, into law in 1965. In 1967, President Johnson added women to the list of minorities to benefit from Affirmative Action.

Guiding Principles in Affirmative Action

The guiding principle in Affirmative action is that employers, school officials, and lawmakers take effective steps to ensure that minorities are afforded equal opportunities for such things as promotions, equal salaries, education, scholarships, and financial aid, which was previously exclusive to white males. Up to this point, minorities such as blacks and ...