Equity, Policy and Outcomes

Abstract

To understand the impact of equality and affirmative action policies it is necessary to understand some of the key concepts that underpin the translation of intentions and ideas into action. It may be useful to try to draw a distinction between equal opportunities policies and affirmative action policies. There are no hard-and-fast definitions of either, although affirmative action is often thought of as being an American version of equal opportunities. One of the major differences between equal opportunities policies and affirmative action policies is that affirmative action policies are generally thought of as being backed by some element of compulsion. For example, employers are compelled by law to employ a specified percentage of people from ethnic minorities, or a specified percentage of women. Equal opportunities policies, on the other hand, tend to rely much more on employers acting without formal legal compulsion, though it should be noted that in the US the use of law to compel employers to enforce equity is not as common as people may imagine. A useful definition of affirmative action policies suggests that:

Affirmative action is a generic term for programmes which take some kind of initiative either voluntarily or under compulsion of law, to increase, maintain, or rearrange the number or status of certain group members usually defined by race or gender. (Johnson 1990, p. 77)