Affirmative action is a government policy that has seen controversy ever since its creation. The two sides to this policy both hold strong opinions and arguments.
It began after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement to ensure equal opportunities for minorities and women in education and employment. President John F. Kennedy used the term “affirmative action” for the first time in an Executive Order. He stated that the government must take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”
After many years of revisions, the policies of Affirmative action are officially defined as “those in which an institution or organization actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society.”
Affirmative action is now mostly known through the higher education system, in which institutions have admission policies that ensure equal access to an education to historically excluded groups. This includes both women and racial minorities. The goal is to give these groups equal opportunities when it comes to attending college.
Affirmative action has been helpful for underrepresented minorities. Affirmative action is a policy that promotes diversity. It helps give those who are already disadvantaged a chance at equal education and employment that could better their future. Some argue that affirmative action is needed to “compensate” minorities for the hundreds of years of slavery and oppression that they had to endure.
Fig. 2. Marcus, Bonnie. Mentors Help Create A Sustainable Pipeline For Women In STEM.
There are certain professions in which affirmative action policies are particularly necessary. Affirmative Action is important for women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. STEM fields usually consist of mostly men, and it is important that women have the equal chance to enter and succeed in these fields, as well. Women have been historically underrepresented in these types of fields, and still are. It is important for affirmative action to equally represent women in STEM fields.
These policies are also important in more homogenous populations. It is important to ensure that those minorities who are severely outnumbered are not discriminated against for this exact reason. It is important that they are not put at a disadvantage, soley on the basis that they are not like the majority population. Unfortunately, this happens more often than it should. People are consistently treated different when they are a minority. Affirmative action seeks to rid of this discrimination and offer equal opportunities to those suffering from it.
It can be seen that race is not the only consideration for affirmative action policies. Affirmative action also looks at sex and socioeconomic status. However, race is usually first looked at and the most considered.
Affirmative action is incredibly useful in promoting long-term and sustainable structural equality. It starts the movement towards total equality. It ensures that minorities are equally represented in education and employment. Eventually, the goal is that this will become second nature and we will not need a policy that basically has to force equality to be present in our society. We want equality to be normalized, and not something we have to work insanely hard to achieve. Equality should just be part of being a human being. So, we need to lay a foundation of equality down now so we can have strong, structural equality for the future.
On the other hand, some believe that affirmative action results in “reverse discrimination,” meaning minorities are being favored over whites, even when they do not have better qualifications. People argue that race should not be a factor in the determination of who gets admitted to a university. Multiple universities have already been accused of accepting minorities simply because of the color of their skin and not their academic merit. There are universities across the country who have “diversity quotas” that they must meet. Therefore, this could sometimes cause for universities to admit minority students because they need to meet their quota.
Fig. 3. Hong, Nicole and Korn, Melissa. Harvard Admissions Chief Defends Policies in First Day of Trial.
One of the most famous and current cases is the lawsuit against Harvard University. Harvard has been accused of holding Asian-Americans to a higher standard because of their use of racial quotas. The plaintiffs believe that Harvard is violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by using this illegal quota system. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
The United States is obviously very split on the issue as to if affirmative action should be in place or not. Equality is an ideological value that is used to both defend and reject affirmative action. On one side, affirmative action promotes equality by giving minorities opportunities that they would not normally get because of the underlying discrimination and racism in our educational and employment institutions. On the other side, affirmative action goes against true equality by favoring minorities over whites when it comes to education and employment. So, it is difficult to see which view is “correct.” It just depends which side you look at it from.
The United States still has work to do to with affirmative action. Unfortunately, there will always be someone unhappy with the outcome. Hopefully, we can just work towards a society without discrimination where we will no longer need affirmative action to ensure equality.
May 15, 2024 at 6:54 am
Thank you for being unapologetically yourself.
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June 24, 2024 at 6:20 pm
Affirmative action is a government policy that has sparked controversy since its inception. It emerged after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement to ensure equal opportunities for minorities and women in education and employment. President John F. Kennedy introduced the term “affirmative action” in an Executive Order, emphasizing equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin1.
In higher education, affirmative action policies aim to provide historically excluded groups—both women and racial minorities—with equal access to education. These efforts promote diversity and offer underrepresented minorities a chance at better education and future prospects. Some argue that affirmative action compensates for centuries of slavery and oppression endured by minorities2.
Moreover, affirmative action is crucial in fields like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), where women have been historically underrepresented. These policies ensure equal opportunities for women in STEM, fostering a more balanced representation3. Additionally, they address discrimination faced by severely outnumbered minorities, ensuring they are not disadvantaged based solely on their differences from the majority population4.