Gender / race OR ethnicity - Research Paper Example

It is therefore, because of this fact that this study is aimed at analyzing the significance of affirmative action at workplace, myths about affirmative action, advantages and disadvantages of affirmative action. Affirmative action refers to a set of processes intended to eliminate illegal discrimination among candidates, remedy the outcomes of such previous discrimination, and prevent this kind of discrimination in the future. “Affirmative action originated from the civil rights movement in approximately 30 years ago” (Cosson & Nelson 14).

It calls for special consideration for minorities and women in education, employment and contracting decisions. Establishments with affirmative action rules usually set objectives and schedules for augmented diversity, and use recruitment, set-asides and favorite means of attaining those objectives. Affirmative action in its current form can call for admittances officer faced with two applicants who have equal qualifications to select the minority over the majority, or for a manager to hire and employ a qualified woman for a job over a man.

Generally, “decisions of affirmative action are not supposed to be in regard to quotas or offer any favorite to incompetent applicants” (Cosson & Nelson 15). They are also not supposed to injure anyone via reverse discrimination. Affirmative action in the workplace Affirmative action has significantly revolutionized the workplace, especially through increased ethnic diversity and gender balance. For instance, “the move witnessed an increase in the number of black males in government contracts from at least 6.1 to 6.9 per cent between 1974 and 1980” (Cosson & Nelson 23).

Affirmative action has been helpful to some extent since those proposing it argue that it is likely to improve the lives of women, minorities and many others in the society. In fact, majority of people solely depend on the growth of economy to improve their lives. However, AA was to ensure that women receive better employment opportunities to allow them to support their families, though due to some factors, this did not initialize. Presently, many families solely rely on the income of women, maybe because they have lost their husbands to drugs or death.

“This is why many people believe that in cases whereby Affirmative Action opens up education, businesses and employment; families and communities are likely to have superior economic security” (Cosson & Nelson 34). Relatively, business leaders must be in the forefront of ensuring that AA is implemented since they understand that affirmative action is indispensable towards development of a strong workforce. It is important to note that women and people of color have numerous roles to play in serving their communities.

Affirmative Action was supposed to help insure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute in the society; however, this has never been the case. In 2011, “the National Organization of Women had some sort of misconceptions with regard to the affirmative action in the United States” (Cosson & Nelson 42). The organization believed “the U.S. still requires an affirmative action plan to address the notion that African American women still earned more as compared to the Hispanic women, estimated at 63 cents to 57 cents to the dollar respectively” (Cosson & Nelson 56).

However, affirmative action has really been beneficial as it goes beyond just complying with legal mandates. Apart from