Affirmative Action And Society Essay Research Paper

Affirmative Action And Society Essay, Research Paper What is affirmative action? Affirmative action is defined as a tool to monitor the consequences of employment practices. Affirmative action analyses determine whether employment practices result in a diverse applicant pool. The following quote by the former United States Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, seems to summarize the government’s perception of this sensitive subject:An Affirmative Action Plan is a ?careful, systematic analysis of who you?ve got, who?s out there, and how you are going to broaden opportunity. The plan creates opportunity. It?s not a quota machine. The purpose of goals and timetables in Affirmative Action Plans is to get employers to cast a wider net to find qualified applicants.?Throughout the

history of the United States of America the intense and controversial view of “equality” has been a hot topic. With that in mind, our founding fathers of this great country set forth the three theories of what every citizen should be entitled to; freedom, order and equality. Their perception of what equality meant has taken on many different definitions as we as a society have evolved and changed.As a human being and especially as a citizen of the United States of America, I believe that civil rights are a very intricate part of our existence. When those rights are violated, a person tends to feel betrayed and persecuted due to their color, race, religion or personal beliefs. Therefore, the context of affirmative action seems to play a part in the balance of equality.In 1954,

the Supreme Court issued a controversial ruling in the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education. The Court ruled that the concept of “separate, but equal facilities established on the basis of race” be deemed unconstitutional. Since racism and indifference had restricted rights for blacks, executive orders issued by presidents in the 1950s and 1960s established the concept of anti-discrimination measures to guarantee fair treatment of blacks by government contractors. Under President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, an executive order was issued to apply for contracts to solve the problem in political, economic and education. This seemed to affect minorities and also women in employment at that time. In response to the civil rights movement, President John F. Kennedy created a

Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in 1961 and issued Executive Order 10925, which used the term “affirmative action” to refer to measures designed to achieve non-discrimination.In 1964 after this term was coined, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act increased the authority of affirmative action agents to institute quotas and preferential hiring to increase representation of minorities and to ameliorate discrimination. It not only prohibited discrimination on grounds of race, age, religion, and national origin but also on grounds of sex. And since, the affirmative action programs focused on minority groups that were determined by the federal government such as: Asian or Pacific Islander-Persons having origins in any of the original people of the far East, Southeast Asia,

the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands. This area includes: China, Japan, Korea, Philippine Islands, and Samoa. Black (not of Hispanic Origin), Hispanic such as Mexican, Cuban…, American Indian: people of North America.In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which required federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees treated without discrimination, a definition similar to that in Executive Order 10925. In 1967, President Johnson issued Executive Order 11375, which included sex along with race as an illegitimate basis of discrimination. The core principle of affirmative action is that of requiring “something more” of employers in order to overcome prior discrimination. In 1968,