Positive discrimination

Positive discrimination, also called positive action or affirmative action, refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization that seek to increase the representation of certain groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed, or nationality in areas where they are underrepresented, such as education and employment.1234 Historically and internationally, support for affirmative action has sought to achieve goals such as reducing inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education , the promotion of diversity and the repair of apparent grievances, damages or obstacles from the past.

 

The nature of affirmative action policies varies from region to region and exists on a spectrum from a hard quota to the mere encouragement to increase participation. Some countries use a quota system, whereby a certain percentage of government jobs, political offices, and places in schools must be reserved for members of a certain group; an example of this is the reservation system in India.

 

In other regions where quotas are not used, members of minority groups have preference or special consideration in selection processes. In the United States, affirmative action in employment and education has been the subject of legal and political controversy. In 2003, the United States Supreme Court, in Grutter v. Bollinger, held that the University of Michigan Law School could consider race as an additional factor when evaluating applicants globally and upheld the ban on the use of quotas.

 

In the UK, hiring someone simply because of their protected group status, without regard to their performance, is illegal. However, UK law does allow membership of a protected and disadvantaged group to be taken into account in recruitment and promotion where the group is underrepresented in a given area and if candidates are of equal merit. The control logic is that the person should not be chosen simply because they belong to a group, but that the competent authorities can use the status of disadvantaged group as a "break-off criterion" between two candidates with the same merits. This is functionally the same as the practice known as affirmative action in the United States.

 

However, a common alternative approach in the UK is described as 'positive action'. With this approach, the focus is often on ensuring equal opportunities and, for example, running targeted advertising campaigns to encourage candidates from ethnic minorities to join the police force. This is often described as "color blind", although the social viability of that concept is hotly contested in the United States.