Affirmative action

Affirmative action, also known as reservation in India and Nepal, positive discrimination /

action in the United Kingdom, and employment equity (in a narrower context)
in Canada and South Africa, is the policy of promoting the education and employment of
members of groups that are known to have previously suffered from discrimination. Historically
and internationally, support for affirmative action has sought to achieve goals such as bridging
inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education, promoting diversity, and
redressing apparent past wrongs, harms, or hindrances.

The nature of affirmative action policies varies from region to region. Some countries use a
quota system, whereby a certain percentage of government jobs, political positions, and school
vacancies must be reserved for members of a certain group; an example of this is
the reservation system in India. In some other regions where quotas are not used, minority
group members are given preference or special consideration in selection processes. In the
United States, affirmative action in employment and education has been the subject of legal and
political controversy; in 2003, a pair of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United
States (Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger) permitted educational institutions to consider
race as a factor when admitting students while prohibiting the use of quotas. In other countries,
such as the UK, affirmative action is rendered illegal because it does not treat all races equally.
This approach to equal treatment is described as being "color blind". In such countries, the
focus tends to be on ensuring equal opportunity and, for example, targeted advertising
campaigns to encourage ethnic minority candidates to join the police force. This is sometimes
described as "positive action".

Origins
The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States in "Executive Order No. 10925",
signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision
that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed,
and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or
national origin". It was used to promote actions that achieve non-discrimination. In 1965,
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246 which required government
employers to take "affirmative action" to "hire without regard to race, religion and national
origin". This prevented employers from discriminating against members of disadvantaged
groups. In 1967, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list.

Affirmative action is intended to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a
society to give them equal access to that of the majority population.

It is often instituted for government and educational settings to ensure that certain designated
"minority groups" within a society are able to participate in all provided opportunities including
promotional, educational, and training opportunities.

The stated justification for affirmative action by its proponents is that it helps to compensate
for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to
address existing discrimination.

Women
Several different studies investigated the effect of affirmative action on women. Kurtulus (2012)
in her review of affirmative action and the occupational advancement of minorities and women
during 1973-2003 showed that the effect of affirmative action on advancing black, Hispanic, and
white women into management, professional, and technical occupations occurred primarily
during the 1970s and early 1980s. During this period, contractors grew their shares of these
groups more rapidly than noncontractors because of the implementation of affirmative action.
But the positive effect of affirmative action vanished entirely in the late 1980s, which Kurtulus
says may be due to the slowdown into advanced occupation for women and minorities because
of the political shift of affirmative action that started by President Reagan. Becoming a federal
contractor increased white women's share of professional occupations by 0.183 percentage
points, or 7.3 percent, on average during these three decades, and increased black women's
share by 0.052 percentage points (or by 3.9 percent). Becoming a federal contractor also
increased Hispanic women's and black men's share of technical occupations on average by
0.058 percent and 0.109 percentage points respectively (or by 7.7 and 4.2 percent). These
represent a substantial contribution of affirmative action to overall trends in the occupational
advancement of women and minorities over the three decades under the study. A reanalysis of
multiple scholarly studies, especially in Asia, considered the impact of four primary factors on
support for affirmative action programs for women: gender; political factors; psychological
factors; and social structure. Kim and Kim (2014) found that, "Affirmative action both corrects
existing unfair treatment and gives women equal opportunity in the future."

Quotas
Law regarding quotas and affirmative action varies widely from nation to nation. Caste-based
quotas are used in India for reservation. However, they are illegal in the United States, where no
employer, university, or other entity may create a set number required for each race.

In 2012, the European Union Commission approved a plan for women to constitute 40% of non-
executive board directorships in large listed companies in Europe by 2020. In Sweden, the
Supreme Court has ruled that "affirmative action" ethnic quotas in universities are
discrimination and hence unlawful. It said that the requirements for the intake should be the
same for all. The justice minister said that the decision left no room for uncertainty.
India
Reservation in India

Reservation in India is a form of affirmative action designed to improve the well-being

of backward and under-represented communities defined primarily by their caste. Reservation in
India favors the majority of the population with more than 90% of Indian Citizens eligible for
reservation benefits. 59.5% of all college admissions and government jobs are reserved for this
90% majority but they can also compete for the remaining 40.5% unreserved quota as well.
Before the year of 2019 only 0.7% of scholarships disbursed by the government were given on
the basis of merit, with over 94% of the scholarships given on basis of Reservation instead.

United Nations
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulates
(in Article 2.2) that affirmative action programs may be required of countries that ratified the
convention, in order to rectify systematic discrimination. It states, however, that such programs
"shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for
different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved".

The United Nations Human Rights Committee states that "the principle of equality sometimes
requires States parties to take affirmative action in order to diminish or eliminate conditions
which cause or help to perpetuate discrimination prohibited by the Covenant. For example, in a
State where the general conditions of a certain part of the population prevent or impair their
enjoyment of human rights, the State should take specific action to correct those conditions.
Such action may involve granting for a time to the part of the population concerned certain
preferential treatment in specific matters as compared with the rest of the population. However,
as long as such action is needed to correct discrimination, in fact, it is a case of legitimate
differentiation under the Covenant."

Support
The principle of affirmative action is to promote societal equality through the preferential
treatment of socioeconomically disadvantaged people. Often, these people are disadvantaged
for historical reasons, such as oppression or slavery. Historically and internationally, support for
affirmative action has sought to achieve a range of goals: bridging inequalities in employment
and pay; increasing access to education; enriching state, institutional, and professional
leadership with the full spectrum of society; redressing apparent past wrongs, harms, or
hindrances, in particular addressing the apparent social imbalance left in the wake of slavery
and slave laws.
A 2017 study found that affirmative action in the United States "increases the black share of
employees over time: in 5 years after an establishment is first regulated, the black share of
employees increases by an average of 0.8 percentage points. Strikingly, the black share
continues to grow at a similar pace even after an establishment is deregulated. One could argue
that this persistence is driven in part by affirmative action inducing employers to improve their
methods for screening potential hires."