Definitions for Affirmative Action
af·fir·ma·tive ac·tion

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. affirmative actionnoun

   a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities

   "affirmative action has been extremely controversial and was challenged in 1978 in the Bakke decision"

GCIDERate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. affirmative actionnoun

   a policy of making active efforts to improve the employment or educational opportunities available to members of minority groups or women; -- achieved by employers or schools by using various techniques, but excluding the use of simple quotas or outright discrimination against white males. affirmative action is required by law for certain employers in the United States.

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. affirmative actionnoun

   A policy or program providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society through preferential access to education, employment, health care, social welfare, etc.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Affirmative action

   Affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination, involves sets of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which such groups are underrepresented — such as education and employment. Historically and internationally, support for affirmative action has sought to achieve goals such as bridging inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education, promoting diversity, and redressing apparent past wrongs, harms, or hindrances. The nature of affirmative-action policies varies from region to region and exists on a spectrum from a hard quota to merely targeting encouragement for increased participation. Some countries use a quota system, reserving a certain percentage of government jobs, political positions, and school vacancies for members of a certain group; an example of this is the reservation system in India. In some other jurisdictions where quotas are not used, minority-group members are given 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 Supreme Court of the United States, in Grutter v. Bollinger, held that the University of Michigan Law School could consider race as a plus-factor when evaluating applicants holistically and maintained the prohibition on the use of quotas.In the United Kingdom, hiring someone simply because of their protected-group status, without regard to their performance, is illegal. However, the law in the United Kingdom does allow for membership in a protected and disadvantaged group to be considered in hiring and promotion when the group is under-represented in a given area and if the candidates are of equal merit (in which case membership in a disadvantaged group can become a "tie-breaker"). An alternative approach, common in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, is positive action. Under this approach, the focus tends to be on ensuring equal opportunity and, for example, targeted advertising campaigns to encourage ethnic minority candidates to join police forces. This is often described as being "color blind", although the social viability of that concept is heavily contested by certain elements in the United States.In the United States, affirmative action is controversial and public opinion on the subject is divided. Supporters of affirmative action argue that it promotes equality and representation for groups which are socio-economically disadvantaged or have faced historical discrimination or oppression. Opponents of affirmative action have argued that it is a form of reverse discrimination, that it tends to benefit the most privileged within minority groups at the expense of the least fortunate within majority groups, or that—when applied to universities—it can hinder minority students by placing them in courses too difficult for them.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. affirmative action

   Affirmative action is a policy or set of policies put into place by organizations, companies, or government agencies to redress historical imbalances and discrimination against certain groups (commonly minorities or women). It aims to increase representation and equal opportunity by favoriting those who are typically disadvantaged in areas such as education, employment, and business.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Affirmative action

   Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education, and business".

Matched Categories

1. • Social Action

How to pronounce Affirmative Action?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Affirmative Action in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Affirmative Action in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Affirmative Action in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of Affirmative Action in a Sentence

1. Douglas Macgregor:

   What we call diversity -- in the extreme. In other words, affirmative action programs for every conceivable category of humanity that the left wants to come up with, whether it's someone who is a gender neutral or homosexual or whatever else, the left loves to put us into categories and push this. And the people that went along with it and said,' sure, let's put women into the combat forces. Let's have women everywhere.' Let's do whatever we want to do. We're going to create this brave new world where everyone is the same. There are no differences, nothing matters. So I think that's where we are.

2. Omar Wasow:

   Affirmative action is a more demanding ask of a white majority than something like interracial marriage because there's no sense of, if these people get married, I'm denying an opportunity to Omar Wasow, granting people the legal right to marry has no material cost to people who had that right but were denying it to others.

3. Grace Fosu:

   [ Ghana ] has made some strides with regard to women's rights in some areas but has not done very well in other areas... women's role in public life is abysmal with attempts to get an affirmative action law in place not gone far.

4. Paul Smith:

   Abortion, gun rights and affirmative action would be monumental. That said, there, in those cases, particularly in the abortion case and in the gun case, there are ways they could decide the more broadly or more narrowly, so part of the blockbuster nature of the term will depend on whether they really go very far and say, overrule Roe v. Wade, or simply narrow it in the abortion case.

5. Lewis Baldwin:

   Democratic Socialist was not talking about race-based affirmative action. Democratic Socialist was concerned about need-based affirmative action, if you look at Democratic Socialist call for an economic bill of rights, Democratic Socialist was talking about affirmative action that benefited all people that were poor and deprived.

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Affirmative Action
2. ^ GCIDE
   https://gcide.gnu.org.ua/?q=Affirmative Action
3. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=Affirmative Action