Editing Affirmative action (section)

==Origins==
The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States in [[Executive Order 10925]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://shfg.org/resources/Documents/FH%202%20(2010)%20MacLaury.pdf | title=President Kennedy's E.O.10925: Seedbed of Affirmative Action | publisher=Society for History in the Federal Government | access-date=20 August 2020 | archive-date=27 October 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027201202/http://shfg.org/resources/Documents/FH%202%20%282010%29%20MacLaury.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> signed by President [[John F. Kennedy]] on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that [[government contractor]]s "take ''affirmative action'' to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated [fairly] during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin".<ref name="oeod.uci.edu">[http://www.oeod.uci.edu/aa.html A Brief History of Affirmative Action] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512084109/http://www.oeod.uci.edu/aa.html|date=12 May 2015}}, University of California, Irvine (access date 16 May 2015)</ref> In 1965, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] issued [[Executive Order 11246]] which required government employers to "hire without regard to race, religion and national origin" and "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin."<ref>Executive Order 11246</ref> The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Neither executive order nor The Civil Rights Act authorized group preferences. The Senate floor manager of the bill, Senator Hubert Humphrey, declared that the bill “would prohibit preferential treatment for any particular group” adding  “I will eat my hat if this leads to racial quotas.”
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ifamnews.com/en/it-is-time-for-senator-humphrey-to-eat-his-hat | title= Today's racial quotas? Senator Humphrey would've eaten his hat | publisher=Family News Network | date=January 20, 2022 | access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref> However affirmative action in practice would eventually become synonymous with preferences, goals and quotas as upheld or struck down by Supreme Court decisions even though no law had been passed explicitly permitting discrimination in favor of disadvantaged groups.{{fact|date=January 2025}} 

Affirmative action is intended to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a society to give them equal access to that of the majority population.<ref>{{cite web|title=Affirmative Action |url=http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/sharamkohan1/affirmative-action/ |website=Harvard Blogs |publisher=Harvard Law School |access-date=30 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518061955/http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/sharamkohan1/affirmative-action/ |archive-date=18 May 2015 }}</ref> The philosophical basis of the policy has various rationales, including but not limited to compensation for past discrimination, correction of current discrimination, and the diversification of society.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tierney |first=William G. |date=1997 |title=The Parameters of Affirmative Action: Equity and Excellence in the Academy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1170625 |journal=Review of Educational Research |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=165–196 |doi=10.3102/00346543067002165 |jstor=1170625 |s2cid=146578304 |issn=0034-6543|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is often implemented in governmental and educational settings to ensure that designated groups within a society can participate in all promotional, educational, and training opportunities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action Policy Statement|url=http://www.chatham.edu/about/legal_nondiscrimination.cfm|website=chatham.edu|access-date=30 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501102235/http://www.chatham.edu/about/legal_nondiscrimination.cfm|archive-date=1 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The stated justification for affirmative action by its proponents is to help compensate for past discrimination, persecution or [[Exploitation of labour|exploitation]] by the ruling class of a culture,<ref name=":3">Sowell, Thomas (2004). Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study, Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-10199-6}}</ref> and to address existing discrimination.<ref name="Affirmative Action">{{cite book|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/|title=Affirmative Action|publisher=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|date=1 April 2009}}</ref>