Difference Between Affirmative Action And Diversity

Some people argue that affirmative action is a program of opportunity, and not a program of discrimination. Although affirmative action might be a program of opportunity it only gives opportunity to a select few. If it would give everyone the same opportunity affirmative action would be a good program, but it does not. Minorities are given the upper hand with affirmative action.

The term ‘Diversity’ means the state or fact of being diverse; different or unlike. Within equality and inclusion it is the difference between individuals and groups including: culture, nationality, ability, ethnic origin, gender, age, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation and social class.

Diversity is about respecting individual differences these can be: ethnicity, physical abilities, gender, age, religious, beliefs, sexual orientation, material status, politic, region, religion, disability.

Diversity is the defined as a range of various assortments. Overtime, diversity in America has increased. For example, in the 1950s and the 1960s, more rights for African Americans were created. Segregation was no longer considered second nature as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement has had a major influence on how rights and beliefs are determined today. Specific strategies were taken from those protests and applied to how our government determines laws that are are enforced upon citizens in the United States.

Diversity is about recognising, valuing and taking account of people's different backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and experiences, and encouraging and using those differences to create a productive and effective educational community and workforce.

Have you ever wondered why all companies have employees of all races? Affirmative Action sought to give African Americans workers and minorities equal access to education and employment which was previously denied to them. It makes companies and schools give equal access to minorities.

Some people would say that the policy of affirmative action in the workplace only creates positives like diversity and equality in jobs. But this is not the case. Affirmative action may create diversity, but the equality aspect of it is a little shadier. If one job applicant is highly qualified, but does not meet the requirements of affirmative action regulations, such as a white male, they might be passed up for a less qualified applicant, merely because they fit the affirmative action bill by being a minority or other historically underrepresented category of person. This program goes as far as to set quotas for how many minorities, disabled, women, etc. employers have to hire. Along with this, employers must also write and execute an affirmative action plan in order to comply with federal regulations. (Scott) All of these things are intended to create an environment of equality, but they are now actually doing the opposite by excluding qualified whites. Therefore, affirmative action is no longer a sufficient policy to create a diverse and equal workplace.

Diversity is discrimination based on race and ethnicity. Whether in admissions or hiring, its purpose and effect is the selection of individuals who would not have been selected but for their race or ethnicity. And that means, inescapably, that an equal number of others were not selected because of their race or ethnicity.

Affirmative Action is an outcome of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Its purpose is to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. It is not until 1961 did the term “affirmative action” was first used by President John F. Kennedy. He made it very clear in an Executive Order that directed government have to 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.” Since a lot of cooperation still tends to hire white male, by enforcing affirmative action, the number of minority groups and women in the labor force will increase.Affirmative Action helps to eliminate the imbalance in the society and reform the American system. The US Department of Labor describes affirmative action as the banning of discrimination.

fifty years later, the practice of affirmative action has been at the vanguard of intense

Some would argue that affirmative action only hurts those of minority, I would agree. Affirmative action allows those of minority the ability to attend school on race and not so much academics. Using this as a standard to allow students into a school not only hurts a student but the university as well. When students are allowed to enter a university because of race and not their abilities it only hinders that student. There have been several court cases sense the beginning of affirmative action, most of which have upheld the AA rule.

Affirmative action came into effect back in 1960. Affirmative action, “policies are those in which an institution or organization actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society” (Overview). Back in 1961, “President Kennedy was the first to use the term “affirmative action” in the Executive Order that directed government the contractors take affirmative action to ensure that applicants were employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national” (Overview). Affirmative action provides the much needed diversity for the business environment to prosper. If affirmative action is not properly incorporated, it can hinder the business

Affirmative action has many ongoing arguments and debates. Many believe that Affirmative action is out dated and not needed in America anymore. It is true that equal rights have come a long way in America compared to the past. Affirmative action is believed to be a form of reverse discrimination because it favors one group over another. Some of the main concerns with Affirmative action is that it is forcing employers to hire lesser qualified personnel over more qualified personnel, just because of race. Where as to an African American male whom doesn’t have to same qualifications and experience as a Caucasian male, would be hired just solely based off his race. And this would cause the workforce standards to lower and maybe even slow down or lower production. This argument is a fair from employers who only wants to be able to hire the top applicants possible, without being mandated to meet a requirement that might force them to hire the lesser qualified candidates.

Diversity can be defined as the differences among the people working in the same workplace. Those differences can be related to gender, race, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, culture or personalities.

First and foremost, it is important to note that diversity expands on and is exceedingly correlated to the concept of equality. Hence, in order to recognize how the two terms co-exist within each other when either one is being referenced, one must distinguish how diversity and equality management function as two different initiatives in