Affirmative Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Affirmative Action - Essay Example The research also focuses on viability of implementing the provisions of the affirmative action law during 2012. The companies and schools must implement all the provisions of the affirmative action law. Affirmative action includes requiring the companies to reserve a certain percentage of its total employment force or total student enrollees to the minorities of society. Affirmative action entails avoiding discrimination in the hiring of employees and acceptance of students enrolling in a school. Some companies interpret affirmative action as a quota system (Lapenson, 2009). Companies must allot a certain percentage of the entire work force to minorities. In the same manner, schools should allocate a certain percentage of the total enrollment to minorities. Initially, affirmative action was crafted into law to eliminate racial discrimination against the African Americans. The companies are penalized for discriminating against the minority job applicants and minority student enrollee s. Further, statistical data shows that affirmative action has changed the landscapes. The prior data indicated that 47.5 percent of the total work force before 1909 were women. During the current period, the female workers increased to 85 percent of the total workforce in the US. ... Discrimination can be done in several aspects. The aspects include race, color, creed, and national origin. President John F. Kennedy envisioned that companies would not hire a job applicant or accept the enrollment of student based on one’s race, color, gender, religion, religion or national origin. The order firmly established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Prior to President Kennedy’s executive order, African Americans had more difficulty in finding jobs when compared to the Caucasian Americans (Spann, 2000). Next, United States President Lyndon Johnson interpreted the affirmative action to include generating more job opportunities and school enrollment rights to the African Americans. President Johnson spearheaded an updated version of the affirmation action provision during 1965. President Johnson insists that the affirmative action law gave everyone of all races, color, religion, gender, and national origin equal rights to land a vacant job or enroll in a school of their choice (Fischer, 2010). Lastly, the affirmative action fluctuated during different time periods (Platt, 1997). Women benefitted from affirmative action. During the 1970s, 53 percent of college and university students were nonwhites. Affirmative action triggered an increase in female graduates in medical school (8 percent increase) and law schools (5 percent increase). Specifically, the 1979 to 1989 research period shows that there was a 31 percent increase in African American men and 55 percent increase in African American women. Further, there is a 39 percent increase in Hispanic men and 45 percent increase in Hispanic women in terms of medical school enrollment statistics (Welch, 1998). The research shows that many white