Affirmative Action Around the Globe

The United States is not the only country that has faced the issue of systematic oppression throughout history. Other nations around the globe have all attempted to reconcile past racial and circumstantial discrimination through different means. As mentioned in my earlier blog posts, the United States began utilizing affirmative action in the early 1960s as a way to begin giving more opportunities to historically oppressed minority groups. Throughout the past several decades, the arguments surrounding affirmative action have increased as people began to claim that there is a lesser need for it today. Furthermore, the idea that affirmative action is a form of positive discrimination has also become a public debating point. This week, I plan to showcase how other nations have dealt with this issue, and how the United States could look to its international peers for advice surrounding the future of affirmative action.

It is important to note that in some of the countries I will talk about, racial discrimination has not played as large of a historical role as it has in the United States. For example, according debatepedia.idebate.org, Japan does not necessarily have an affirmative action program, but it does try and restrict discrimination. For example, a standardized test is utilized for many government and education positions, and race is not allowed to be stated on the form. For this reason, race is completely eliminated from the process, as only aptitude is viewed when making decisions.

In the United States, removing race from entrance exams may not entirely fix the issue. For example, many minority individuals come from backgrounds with less financially strong public education programs. For this reason, any standardized test scores of these groups of people may not accurately represent the amount of those students capable and deserving to attend certain institutions. Although not a perfect system, affirmative action represents a way to even the playing field by giving the same opportunities to people of color that may otherwise not get the chance due to systematic oppression. Only after a long amount of time and ample policy change will it become less necessary to aid these groups as they will ideally become equal in regards to public education.

In the United Kingdom, no positive discrimination is allowed. For this reason, quotas and selective systems are disallowed. The reason behind this was explained by a parliamentary release claiming that helping minority groups through reverse discrimination could actually make matters worse. For example, this could knit minorities closer together as outsiders instead of including them in the same process as everyone else. However, if this were implemented in the United States, this could lead to several issues. The instant removal of affirmative action due to an societal prediction would upset many groups of people and chaos could ensue.

Finally, the last country I investigated was Sweden. According to thelocal.se, Sweden recently voted to completely remove affirmative action from public universities. Instead, only academic merit would be utilized in determining a student's acceptance into a school. Many groups were upset at first, but it now seems clear that this may help remove dividing lines between individual groups of people over time. In the united States, however, this could end poorly as I previously talked about. Due to lower quality eduction provided in impoverished areas, minority groups in America are often disadvantaged when it comes to academically excelling.

Overall, the way other countries handle affirmative action is extremely important to understand how the U.S. can continue to improve the equality among all of its citizens. Although the U.S. has dealt with more racial hatred than many other countries in the world, it is still vital to begin thinking ahead to establish methods that take away dividing lines between groups of people.

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Affirmative Action in the Workplace

As the benefits and arguments surrounding affirmative action compile in today's conversation, its important to look towards other institutions and inspect affirmative action's wide effects. Today, I plan to present the issue of how affirmative action should be treated outside higher education. Many opinions exist on how affirmative action should be handled post-education, and some continue to believe it is not necessary in the job market.

In past blogs, I showcased the different arguments for and against affirmative action used by higher education institutions. Not only does affirmative action give more opportunities for individuals belonging to groups that have historically been discriminated against, but affirmative action can also begin to promote equality towards the future. One issue with affirmative action is that it is generally only utilized by higher educational institutions, and this can decrease any widespread benefits that may otherwise be possible. For example, if affirmative action was applied to other influential groups around the country, this could increase the benefits more than colleges alone leading the forefront.

If affirmative action was utilized in the workplace, this may expedite the amount of time it takes until all groups of people have the same opportunities to achieve similar goals. With this added boost, affirmative action may only be necessary for several more decades, as opposed to an even longer amount of time. Utilizing this opportunity-generating tool may lead to a society where each individual has a better chance of achieving their version of the American dream.

According to the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity, affirmative action can be utilized to increase the number of women and minority groups working in fields that have historically been dominated by white men. This technique is believed to reduce the temptation of only hiring "buddies," but instead opens the door for so many others that might not otherwise have the opportunity. It is considered  illegal to discriminate against someone applying to a job based on gender, race, or any other characteristics not under their control. For this reason, affirmative action does not simply mean hiring someone because they are diverse. Instead, it requires that upmost fairness be given to all parties applying and this ensures that groups that have been denied opportunities in the past can now have them.

Also, according to HigherEdJobs, affirmative action does not mean hiring people who are less qualified based on gender or race. Instead, it requires advertising and screening processes to be unbiased and nondiscriminatory. Also, another myth surrounding affirmative action in the workplace is that it does not indicate the use of quotas. In reality, quotas are forbidden, but placement goals do exist to show with statistics about how diverse a career field could ideally become.

On the other hand, many people still believe that affirmative action should not be utilized in the workplace. At public universities where thousands of applicants are accepted regardless, affirmative action seems to make a much less noticeable impact from individual to individual. However, if a job came down to less than five applicants, and affirmative action was utilized to pick the future employee, this may feel much more personal. For this reason, affirmative action has not historically been utilized in many work environments for hiring or promotional purposes.

Now, I want to know what you think. Is affirmative action a fair way to treat people in the workplace, or should this tool only remain in use within higher education. Would utilizing affirmative action in the workplace lead to more equality, or a decrease in race relations in the United States? We can all agree that a society where race is no longer a factor in opportunity is idea, but the path to reach this goal varies depending on an individual's opinion. I want to hear your opinion, so leave a comment below and let's continue the discussion!

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