Affirmative Action 10
The history of affirmative action has its roots in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act provided the initial legal basis for affirmative action for women in the workplace. Affirmative action is a policy to encourage equal opportunity and to level the playing field for groups of people who have been and are discriminated against. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, affirmative action, "Is considered essential to assuring that jobs are genuinely and equally accessible to qualified persons, without regard to their sex, racial, or ethnic characteristics." Over the past few decades' roles for women in the workplace have increased. Many of the predominately male occupations have increasingly become more diverse. Affirmative action helps to promote diversity in employment and equality between genders. The effectiveness of affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity legislation has been vigorously debated for years, with advocates citing gains made by women and people of color in pay, organizational representation, and organizational status. Women, in general, have been the main beneficiaries of affirmative action and will be the biggest losers if i
http://daveyd.com/affirm.html 11/20/98 http://diver.ups.edu/-svanbergen/aaction.htm 11/18/98 Declaration of Independence http://www.auaa.org/library/declind.html 11/23/98 Discrimination continues to permeate American society and results in too many lost opportunities for everyone. The simple reality is that we have not reached the day where an individual's gender, race or ethnicity is no more important than the color of their eyes or hair. As General Colin Powell noted when speaking about the current state of discrimination, "We're not where we want to be- We are where we gotta be." Reducing the nation's commitment to equal opportunity by eliminating affirmative action programs for women and other minorities does not move us in the right direction. Until Although some people view affirmative action as a form of reverse discrimination, it was originally conceived with good intentions. It has helped society to create a more diverse workforce. Affirmative action strengthens the nation by helping to provide equal opportunities to those who have been excluded unfairly. Affirmative action programs were never intended to last forever, however they are expected to remain in place so long as discrimination continues to deny equal opportunity to women and people of color. Affirmative action in employment encompasses a broad range of actions and programs intended to ensure a fair chance at job opportunities for all Americans. Affirmative action programs seek to remedy past discrimination against women, minorities, and others by increasing the recruitment, promotion, retention, and on-the-job training opportunities in employment and by removing barriers to admission to educational institutions. Because of the long history of discrimination based on sex and race, most affirmative action programs have been directed towards improving employment and education opportunities for women and minorities. Race, ethnicity, or gender may be but one factor considered among many others in evaluating qualified candidates. http://www.princeton.edu/~bclewis/action.html 10/05/98
Some common words found in the essay are:
Title VII, Affirmative Action, Colin Powell, Americans Affirmative, Glass Ceiling, Employment Opportunity, affirmative action, Opportunity Commission, Rights Act, Ethics June, Declaration Independence, affirmative action policies, action policies, sex discrimination, women minorities, affirmative action programs, equal opportunity, discrimination affirmative, discrimination affirmative action, action programs, equal employment, reverse discrimination, civil rights act, programs intended, equal employment opportunity,
Approximate Word count = 2108
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
