Affirmative Action

Controversial policy adopted by governments, businesses, and schools to consider factors such as race, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or veteran status when making decisions about admitting, employing, or promoting an individual.

Affirmative action dates to the 1960s. At that time, the government began to acknowledge that members of certain groups were subject to discrimination, and it took steps to protect their interests. The policy was explicitly designed to change how government contracts and employment, private employment, and school admissions were allocated among the population. President John F. Kennedy's executive order 10925 (issued in 1961) and President Lyndon B. Johnson's executive order 11246 (1965) prescribed “affirmative action” in federal contracting. The former also created the body that became the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The definition of affirmative action and practice, however, remain hotly contested. Affirmative action has been variously described as positive discrimination, reverse discrimination, a quota system, equal opportunity, or [Page 2]as a means of choosing between equally qualified candidates for jobs or school admissions. Some view it as a legitimate, equalizing force; others regard it as an illegitimate imposition of social conscience on business and education systems.

In settings closely related to national security, according to a 2002 article published by the National Center for Policy Analysis, the U.S. Army “has been generally viewed as a model of successful racial integration.” The article noted that, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, African American officers were promoted at rates equal to, and sometimes greater than, those of white officers. Nevertheless, in 1993 the Army adopted a policy of providing “equal opportunity instructions” to its officer selection boards. The instructions stated that the goal was to “achieve a selection rate in each minority and gender group … that is not less than the rate for all (eligible) officers.” In 2002, a U.S. District Court struck down the guidelines as unconstitutional, citing the overall strong record of minority promotion within the Army.

In business settings, affirmative action is used primarily to ensure that members of underprivileged groups are not underused or ignored in the workplace. In the college admissions process, affirmative action is used to increase the diversity of the student body. Schools also use it to balance race- and gender-related factors in admission. For example, white males tend to perform better than women and certain minorities on the standardized tests that are important in gaining entrance to college. Affirmative action policies allow schools to give greater weight to factors other than test scores when evaluating applicants for admission.

Those who support affirmative action say that the policy is absolutely necessary to create true equality. They assert that the nondiscrimination mandated in the Constitution and the Civil Rights Acts do not go far enough to ensure equality of opportunity. They argue that so-called color-blind (or gender-neutral) policies subtly discriminate against protected groups. Affirmative action levels the playing field so that members of protected groups have a fair chance at obtaining the contracts, jobs, or admission to college that historically they have been denied by the regular selection process. Affirmative action helps to achieve greater diversity and compensates for past injustices, present discrimination, and prejudice.

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