EEO AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

EEO and Affirmative Action

EEO and Affirmative Action

Main Issues

Affirmative action and EEO began as a corrective measure for governmental and social discrimination against groups that have been discriminated against in areas like employment and education. Affirmative action should only be used when there is a finding of discrimination or under-representation. Discrimination and under-representation is unfair treatment of individuals because they belong to a certain group. The group can be based on race, color, gender, or national origin.

Affirmative action has been arguably the most widely debated and controversial topic in this country for decades. Affirmative action is defined as the intentional inclusion of women and minorities in the workplace after demonstrated underrepresentation of these disadvantaged groups (Bennett & Hartman, 2007, p. 181). Opponents of affirmative action argue that it gives the protected groups an unfair advantage and allows less qualified applicants to get gain employment. In reality, as written in Executive Orders and court interpretation, anyone who benefits from affirmative action must have relevant educational or job qualifications. Proponents of affirmative action on the other hand argue that the protected groups were disadvantaged for such an extended period of time that even more needs to be done in order to achieve true equality in the workplace.

Equal employment opportunity is a policy of nondiscrimination in compliance with legislation prohibiting all forms of discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin. The equal employment opportunity bans discrimination in employment in all public and private sector companies that have 15 or more employees(Stainback 2003). Affirmative action goes one step further by requiring employers to achieve a balanced representation of employees. Both the equal employment opportunity and affirmative action work towards justice for all employees. Some differences between equal employment opportunity and affirmative action in the workplace are affirmative action requires employers to make certain that they are achieving goals of equivalence while equal employment opportunity does not require employers to assess whether their organizational practices are producing unintentional discriminatory effects. Also, affirmative action requires employers to monitor progress while there are no set procedures for monitoring progress in equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action requires an employer's goals be based on specific categories like race, gender, and disability, but equal employment opportunity does not look at these categories and has no system for assessing outcomes. (Weisskopf 2004 )

New Learning

Opponents of affirmative action claim the strategy contradicts the end of illegal discrimination and goal of fair employment. Illegal discrimination occurs when distinctions among people are made based on race, sex, or age, and affirmative action goes against this idea since it is based on policies that provide preferences based on memberships to these different groups. However, supporters of affirmative action defend the strategy by stating it as a remedy to past discrimination that promotes fair employment by increasing access to jobs for protected classes. Simply enforcing penalties for discrimination in the workplace is not enough; the government needs to be proactive and mandate certain levels of employment for protected classes in ...