WHO IS COVERED BY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Veterans, disabled veterans, disabled people, people over 40, women, and racial and ethnic minorities. Yet, it has been proposed to repeal affirmative action for women and minorities only.
WHO HAS BENEFITED FROM AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: White men and women have benefited more than racial and ethnic minorities in state hiring and under alternative admissions criteria to the Universities. White women are the largest beneficiaries, while white men have benefited as veterans, the disabled, and people over 40. This benefit is particularly important for women, since many families are now two-paycheck families or are single paycheck families supported by women. Attacking women’s ability to earn a ood paycheck is an attack on families.
HOW AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WORKS: Affirmative action promotes an equal opportunity to compete for education, job training, and jobs. Due to proven discrimination, the covered groups have been excluded unfairly from job and educational opportunities. Furthermore, affirmative action benefits all workers since it replaced nepotism and favoritism in hiring. Because of affirmative action, the hiring requirements must be necessary to perform the job. Under Affirmative action andTitle IX, job openings have become widely posted and cannot be segregated by sex.
WHY WE DO NOT WANT TO RETURN TO WHAT EXISTED BEFORE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (THE MYTH OF THE MERIT SYSTEM): Due to discrimination, qualified women and minorities were denied jobs and educational opportunities while unqualified men got the jobs and education in the past. For example, it wasn'’t until 25 years ago that Title IX required law and medical schools to admit women. Today over half of all law students are women. There is no such thing as a truly merit based system. Companies and institutions are allowed to base decisions on subjective criteria, for example: whether someone’s personality would make a good fit with the organization, did the person earn A'’s at an ivy league school or community college? Colleges are allowed to, and do, give preference to relatives of alumni or employees.
WHY WE STILL NEED IT: The opponents of affirmative action argue that affirmative action has done its job and is no longer necessary. However statistics show that although white men make up 43% of the national workforce, they hold 95% of all senior management positions. (1) In Washington State government, women represent 51% of the workforce but only 37% of the managers. In the 1970'’s black unemployment was twice as high as white unemployment. In the 1980'’s it was two and a half times as high. In the 1990'’s it is almost three times as high. Clearly, affirmative action has not outlived its usefulness. Over 60% of the residents of this state are women and minorities who would be affected by the repeal of affirmative action. Affirmative action has helped open doors. Younger women who have benefited are earning more per dollar as compared to men than their mother’s generation. Women are increasingly becoming doctors, lawyers, and engineers since the educational and employment opportunities have been opened. But it is too early to close off opportunities and the danger is too great that we will slide backwards. Women of color still earn less than white women. Women are still dramatically absent in top positions due to the glass ceiling. Although women own about 37% of all US businesses, they account for only 1% of federal contract money. We need to maintain the American dream of equal opportunity for all.
(1) Federal Glass Ceiling Report, 1995
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