affirmative action :: essays research papers

Affirmative ActionKenneth HuttnerECO 325Professor KrallApril 24, 2002Discrimination is a line of work that has plagued our country for many years. In the past few decades the government has been attempting to veracious the problem through with(predicate) anti inequality legislation. Some of the biggest programs have been through positive action. There is a general consensus that there are problems in our society with discrimination in many areas. But the questions we must film are Is approbatory action a just way to purpose the problem of discrimination? Is affirmative action constitutional or is it set aside discrimination? And how do we go about solving the problem of discrimination if non through affirmative action?President Kennedy first introduced affirmative action in 1961 although he did not really possess the berth to do much about it without the support of Congress. Affirmative action was expand into the arena of government contracts. Kennedy made a declaration t hat said that upon evaluate a government contract the contractor must pledge not to discriminate against any applicants or employees on the terra firma of race, creed, color, or bailiwick origin(Elliot and Ewoh, p212). Although the contractors made this pledge there was not much enforcement of it.In 1964 congress took steps battle discrimination in the workplace. Title VII of the 1964 accomplished Rights Act said that no person could be discriminated against on the creation of race, color, or national origin when it came to publicly funded programs. This was expanded in 1965 when president Johnson declared that the government would provide equal opportunity employment. Then in 1967 this was again expanded to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender as well as race(Elliot and Ewoh, p213).In 1970 the Department of labour party ordered that all contractors with government contracts, fifty or more employees, and receive $50,000 or more in assistance had to develop an extensive affirmative action plan to let in minorities in areas where they lacked representation(Elliot and Ewoh, p213). These plans had to include in profoundness research with goals and timetables, which would be met by the contractors. If the goals were not met then the government would no longer enter into contracts with the contractors. This was called order No. 4, and was revised in 1971 to include women(Elliot and Ewoh, p213). At this time affirmative action was not quota based. Later prise Carter would give the responsibility of overseeing these mandates to the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee.