The Affirmative action program is designed to bring into the public service greater numbers of citizens who were largely excluded from public employment in previous years; also, the use of goals and timetables for hiring and promoting women, blacks, and other minorities as part of an equal employment opportunity program. The National government has gone a long way, under executive orders, such as executive order 10925 (1961) and provisions of legislation such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1972 Equal Opportunity Act, to ensure that woman and minorities are given at least strong consideration, if not outright preferential treatment, in decisions to hire government employees.
The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States. President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive Order 10925 on March 6, 1961, and it was used to refer to measures to achieve non-discrimination. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued an Executive Order, which required federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to hire without regard to race, religion and national origin. In 1968, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list. The 1964 Civil Rights Act was a landmark legislation prohibiting discrimination by the private sector in both employment and housing. The 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act had amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was designed to strengthen the authority of the Equal Employment Opportunity commission to enforce antidiscrimination laws in state and local governments as well as in private organizations with fifteen or more employees. Equity Pay Act of 1963 had prohibited gender-based (or other) discrimination in pay for those endangered engaged the same type of work
In order for America to keep its democratic government, there had to be something done about the representativeness or diversity in our major industries. There were claims made about women, gays, lesbians, African Americans, and Latino’s being excluded from decision...