Discussion of Affirmative Action Policies Essay

Affirmative action policies are targeted at increasing the representation of women and minorities in the workplace. However, many people suggest that continuous or excessive use of affirmative action policies can result in reverse discrimination. In my opinion, there is no controversial context behind affirmative action policies. People mistakenly suggest that favoring minority candidates is equal to reverse discrimination without considering the policies’ socioeconomic impact. However, there are many alternatives to the direct favoritism of minority candidates over their white counterparts. For example, according to MacKinnon and Fiala (2016), actively trying to find qualified perrons from underrepresented groups through the placement of job ads in minority newspapers. Therefore, the general approach to affirmative action hiring policies recommends maintaining the balance of minority representation among the candidates.

However, as candidates from privileged parts of the population tend to have higher quality education and work experience, the active promotion of minority candidates now can be justified for future equality. Increasing the number of workplaces for underrepresented groups will partially address the problem of poverty in the country, as poverty is more common among minorities. Active affirmative action policies will improve the quality of life of minority groups and provide more opportunities for quality education. With time, there will be more qualified professionals and candidates from underrepresented groups, and there will be no need for further enforcement of affirmative action policies. Therefore, even though there are ways to encourage affirmative action policies that do not imply direct favoritism, some reverse discrimination points can be justified to ensure equality in society. Thus, the promotion of affirmative action policies can be perceived as a necessary step to achieve equality in society rather than an ethical obstacle.

Reference

MacKinnon, B., & Fiala, A. (2016). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues (9^th ed.). Cengage Learning.