Affirmative Action Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Affirmative Action - Research Paper Example hold 69 % of white-collar positions, only 10 % of them are in the management position; in the private business sector, employees of Asian origin make up 87% of its professionals but only 1.3% of them are in the management position; generally, the ratio for employees holding white-collar positions in the US is 3 out of 7 employees, but for Blacks it is 1 of 7; Blacks get 50 % of menial jobs in the US such as garbage collectors and maids, and only 4% of managerial positions (Taylor 1991, National Center for Education Statistics 1990, Schwartz 1984, Vetter 1989, and Pave 1986, quoted in Beauchamp 1997, 216). While the US prides its self to be the epitome of freedom and equality with civil liberties deeply engraved in its constitution, data above clearly contradict this claim. Aiming to correct past mistakes and to pursue fairness and equality by taking legal measures against racial, religious and ethnic discrimination in employment (in the years to come, gender discrimination was also included) President John F. Kennedy, barely two months after assuming office, issued Executive Order 10925 on March 6, 1961 creating his Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity charged to take affirmative action that ensures the federal government and its contractors observe equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons in the government. This consequentially has institutionalized the US government’s commitment to affirmative action (Cohen 2003,12). President Kennedy’s Executive Order introducing affirmative action to the consciousness of the American people was followed by succeed ing Acts further institutionalizing affirmative action: The Civil Rights Act signed on July 2, 1964 and Executive Order 11246 issued on September 24, 1965 both by President Lyndon Johnson; and The Philadelphia Order initiated by President Richard Nixon in 1969 (Brunner 2007, 1). Thus, affirmative action has come to mean â€Å"positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and