Affirmative Action

My Japanese boss mentioned affirmative action to me during our discussion last evening. We were talking about job prospects and how some countries actually give preferences to certain races, even between candidates of the same nationality/citizenship.

At first I did not catch the word, and when I verified on the word, another colleague of mine who were also sharing the discussion, along with me, did not comment on it. Apparently, this 'Affirmative Action' is a civil rights term which according to answers.com refers to steps that are taken not only to eliminate discrimination—whether in employment, education, or contracting—but also to attempt to redress the effects of past discrimination.

The underlying motive for affirmative action is the principle of equal opportunity, which holds that all persons have the right to equal access to self-development. In other words, persons with equal abilities should have equal opportunities.

Affirmative action programs differ widely in the extent to which they attempt to overturn discrimination. Some programs might simply institute reviews of the hiring process for women, minorities, and other affected groups. Other affirmative action programs might explicitly prefer members of affected groups. In such programs, minimum job requirements are used to create a pool of qualified applicants from which members of affected groups are given preference.

Affirmative actions are usually very controversial, and critics of such policies deem the practices as 'reverse discrimination'.