Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is a policy to encourage equal opportunity and to level the playing field for groups of people who have been and are discriminated against (Stein, Martinez, Tashiro). The term affirmative action is applied to the use of racial, ethnic, or gender preferences set apart a variety of social benefits. Treating people differently because of the color of their skin use to be called discrimination, but today it's called affirmative action. "Affirmative action" is applied to a variety of federal, state and private sector programs aimed at achieving racial and gender diversity in the workforce and in education. It is surrounded by misconceptions, which its opponents find easy to exploit.
Affirmative action can be traced back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On September 24, 1965, the executive order number 11246 required that federal contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard ...