Reflecting on a moral problem ( affirmative action) - Essay Example

Other countries similarly enlightened adopted the same principles of this affirmative action law but termed it differently, such as “positive discrimination” in the United Kingdom in which discrimination was given a positive and beneficial connotation or in Canada where it is called as employment equity to mean everybody has equal chances at getting employed if a person has the same qualities, qualifications, credentials, and capabilities as another person. In all these countries, the main idea was to take positive action that will equalize everybody.

In reference to the Women's Liberation Movement (or feminism for short), the same laws in principle were adopted and likewise applied to women to have the same opportunities as men. Some countries adopted a different system altogether such as using quotas to allocate a certain number of slots to members of some minority groups. The same idea of affirmative action was soon introduced to schools and universities in admitting students for enrollment. In this paper, it will be argued how procedural affirmative action is the better of the two variants. . The only remaining criterion for a job applicant is his or her qualifications for the position.

In a sense, this first side of affirmative action is negatively stated, that to achieve the noble aims of affirmative action, any employer should ignore the applicant's race, creed, or color. This first side is what is now called as the procedural affirmative action (Cahn 14). On the other hand, the second side is now more nuanced as it carefully takes into its consideration the very things which were supposed to be ignored or not considered such as an applicant's race, creed, or color; the elements which will make affirmative action a success is to embrace the same criteria which were to be ignored or discarded as mentioned earlier.

It is now incumbent upon a potential employer to carefully take into consideration the same things like race, creed, or color when evaluating an applicant. This is what is required now by the so-called preferential affirmative action by paying very close attention to the same criteria. These two seemingly contradictory aspects of the affirmative action program can be problematic for those desirous to comply with its provisions and objectives although both two aims aspire for the same result of equality in opportunities.

The main problem is whether to use the same set of criteria and then whether to grant compensatory advantages to group members of minorities who were discriminated against. This flies in the face of the ideals of affirmative action which is to allow everybody to compete fairly on an equal footing against everybody else. This implies preference for diversity to enrich everybody's experience but the philosophical debate on this issue has