Affirmative Action Policy

The topic of affirmative action is controversial in American society, one that divides individuals as much as gun control or abortion. On the one hand, many individuals view affirmative action as a means of redressing the systemic discrimination against minorities and women in corporate America. On the other hand, many individuals feel affirmative action is discrimination in reverse, affording employment to less qualified candidates merely because of race or gender. Despite those who feel affirmative action is reverse discrimination, in actuality it is an effective policy that has helped redress the systemized discrimination against minorities and women in employment and education.

Executive Order 10925, creating the Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, was signed by President John F. Kennedy. The commission would eventually evolve into today's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the main government agency in place to protect workers from discrimination. It would be President Lyndon B. Johnson, however, who would gather together 300 corporate CEOs after signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to "discuss integrating our nation's workplaces, schools, and economic institutions" (Shelton 1998, 1). Affirmative action has gone a long way toward redressing the systemic discrimination against women and minorities. More women and minorities are employed in management positions and graduating from universities and colleges than even before in American history

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ucation, or the missing minority in the collegiate racial discourse" (Inkelas 2003, 602). Clearly there is still progress to be made before women and minorities face an equal playing field. Despite discrimination against women and minorities being officially sanctioned by the American social system for more than 200 years, those who are against affirmative action point to all the gains that have been made by women and minorities from advances brought about by the civil rights movement and programs like affirmative action. However, those who are empowered politically and institutionally are forgetting that those advances were made only because of programs like affirmative action and not some dynamic of the marketplace or chance. Nationally, the backlash against affirmative action continues to grow and the passage of Proposition 209 in California demonstrates that many think the time has come to do away with programs aimed at fairness for all people. Yet, there is a long way to go before there is equal opportunity for all Americans when it comes to economic, academic, and political matters, "This current anti-affirmative action movement continues to remind women and people of color that true justice and equality of opportunity i

Category: Government - A