Affirmative Action Legislation Research Articles

English

South Africa's (SA) history of apartheid produced racial inequality that was entrenched for centuries. After 1994, the goal of the new government was to transform the workplace. Numerous affirmative action (AA), legislation, policies, and procedures enforced organisational transformational obligation and compliance. Studies in SA indicate a slow pace of transformation. The financial sector may be paying lip service to affirmative action legislation; setting racially balancing targets for management structures yet not achieving them. The purpose of this paper is to explore existing literature on transformational leadership and AA progress in the SA financial sector to propose an AA Transformational Model. The research method employed was abstract qualitative content analysis method. Selected accredited journal articles were analysed as per the paper keywords for emerging trends on the topic. Findings indicate lack of leadership in transformational implementation, leadership commitment, and management motivation for accelerated transformational targets and strategies. The paper theoretically adds to the body of knowledge on workforce transformational leadership. The practical contribution of this paper is the proposed AA Transformational Model for the SA Financial sector to be proactive in their AA transformation.   Key words: Racial discrimination, racial equity, employment equity, black employees, transformation, leadership, South Africa, affirmative action.

Does She Deserve It? The Influence of Gender and Meritocracy in Reactions to Affirmative Action Legislation

Gender equality is a matter for debate worldwide. In 2018, Portugal enacted legislation (Decree Law no. 62/2017) to balance gender representation on the executive boards of listed and public sector organizations with measures similar to those causing controversies in other countries. Thus, in accordance with previous research, a study took place to examine the attitudes towards the justice of this legislation and the role of merit in these attitudes. This study (n = 129 women and 94 men) deployed an experimentally manipulative type of affirmative action program to consider the role of individual perceptions of the justice of the legislation coupled with the influence of beliefs in meritocracy and participant gender. The results identify how the type of affirmative action impacted on the perceived justice, also influenced by merit, which seems normative and fundamental to evaluating the justice of such legally stipulated provisions. Nonetheless, objectively evaluating candidate merits revealed difficulties in disentangling this process from personality traits.

‘We entered as blacks and we left as Afro-descendants’: tracing the path to affirmative action in Uruguay

ABSTRACT The path to successful passage of affirmative action legislation is quite narrow in Latin America, and has been especially challenging for black populations that cannot make territorial or exclusive cultural claims. Yet Uruguay, like Brazil, bucked these trends, coming to the position that racism is a problem about which something should be done. The passage of race-specific, national affirmative action legislation was the determined remedy, the first of its kind in any Latin American country. What explains this outcome? I trace the logic of argumentation that led from successful introduction to unanimous passage, finding that the path to legitimacy convened on three approaches. The argument positioned affirmative action as a form of reparation, designated it for a group whose existence as a conceptually identifiable and discrete population was not in question, and limited its temporal scope. This article contributes an analysis of the Uruguayan case, and outlines an alternative path to affirmative action in a region where such legislation remains uncommon. It speaks to the theoretical question of where, and under what conditions, specific group rights for an Afro-Latin population can accrue, and antipathy to racial recognition and treatment of inequity might be superseded.

Distinguishing Diversity from Inclusion in the Workplace: Legal Necessity or Common Sense Conclusion?

This article examines the intertwined development of voluntary “diversity” and “inclusion” practices in business from their origins in mandated affirmative action legislation and provides separate and distinct definitions for both concepts. Through analysis of a series of reverse employment discrimination cases concerning non-inclusive “diversity” policies, and empirical workplace studies, this article argues that a transition away from “diversity” practices toward “inclusion” strategies is not necessarily a legal requirement but instead a business imperative in a perpetually changing society. The article concludes by providing guidance on creating and implementing effective “inclusion” practices.

The Oklahoma Affirmative Action Ban Amendment: A Dialogic Analysis of Equal Opportunity Discourse in Oklahoma

ABSTRACTUsing a dialogic lens, this study explored the competing discourses surrounding the Oklahoma Affirmative Action Ban. Focus groups interviews were conducted and findings revealed that Oklahoma residents varied in their discursive positions regarding the ban on affirmative action. Affirmative action was discursively constructed as both a protection from prejudice and as an inherently prejudiced policy in and of itself. Four dialectical tensions were found to influence individual's positions: (a) individual agency and structural constraints, (b) acknowledgment of progress and recognition of failures, (c) commitment to individuals and commitment to free enterprise, and (d) legal protection and individual morality. Importantly, the interplay of these competing discourses animated individuals' understandings of, and opinions about, affirmative action legislation.

Ruptures in Telecommunications

After the civil rights movements of the 1960s and subsequent affirmative action legislation, the 1970s saw an influx of Latina/os into the telecommunications sector. Latina/o information workers have been employed in telecommunications for decades, experiencing the rapid transformation of information technologies and sweeping changes in the telecommunications industry amid the liberalization of the United States economy. This study focuses on interviews with seven Latina/o information workers in the greater Los Angeles region. Their oral histories, covering a period from the 1970s to today, articulate subject formation and resistance among telecommunications industry workers, suggesting that the “freedom” that this industry promises consumers is based on control and restriction of information labor. They offer new insights into formations of labor, reflections on digital capitalism, and intense personal experiences of neoliberal shifts in the political economy. The four themes of analysis developed from these oral histories are internal migration, the welfare state versus the merit system, information technology surveillance, and technological displacement. I conclude that Latina/o information workers’ narratives demonstrate how identity and work build belonging and dissonance within telecommunications.

Employment equity and elimination of discrimination: Where are women with disabilities in the hierarchy?

abstractTo remedy the structural and systemic socio-economic effects of apartheid, colonialism and patriarchy, South Africa’s constitutional legal framework provides creative remedies through anti-discrimination and employment equity (affirmative action) legislation to promote equal participation of women with disabilities in the workplace. In an Equality Court hearing, Singh, an applicant for a position of magistrate, argued that she was excluded from being short-listed ostensibly because as a partially blind woman, she would be unable to meet the requirement of a valid driver’s licence. Her disability status was not considered in applying the short-listing criteria. Singh successfully challenged the discrimination inherent in the short-listing process in Singh v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others (SA National Council for the Blind and another as Amici Curiae). The Equality Court ordered the Magistrate’s Commission to revise its criteria for short-listing in the appointment of magistrates to reflect the necessary racial and gender composition in appointments in the judiciary as well as to have regard for the need to promote persons with disabilities in its short-listing and appointment processes. The article will consider the relationship between race, gender and disability in employment equity (with emphasis on gender and disability) against the backdrop of the Singh case. It outlines the monitoring roles of two constitutional watchdogs: the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC); and the enforcement role of the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE), in promoting equal workplace participation. The analysis of the Singh case and the greater legislative scheme can be used for employees and employers generally in understanding not just the importance and need for advancement of persons with disabilities in the workplace, but also in how this category of employees is considered in the hierarchy of other transformational grounds, such as race and gender and why it is not subordinate to those statuses. The article argues for a fuller notion of diversity, than mere representivity in employment equity, which would necessitate transforming current notions of “able-bodied and able-minded” norms within workplace processes of recruitment, appointment and retention practices. It recommends accountability fostered by the monitoring of state compliance by the Chapter Nine institutions, as well as strategic litigation to challenge state and non-state inaction or omissions.

Political Leadership and Social Transformation

We are in the midst of a national decision (some might argue it is a sham, others that the choices are only by degree and not of great substance) on who should be the next President of the United States. Debates on the left vacillate between arguments that it does not matter who is elected since the two parties in this country, Democrat and Republican, represent competing wings of the same ruling strata. Others argue that the differences, however subtle, matter on the margins determining which social policies are implemented and what sort of foreign policies are pursued. In this round of ‘is Obama a progressive’ debates several key issues keep coming up. First, what would happen to the future of the Supreme Court in the coming years? Anyone paying even the slightest attention recognizes that rulings like Citizens United have dramatically altered electoral politics and the role of corporate interests in this latest campaign. Similarly, the recent decision to uphold what has become known as ‘Obamacare’ also had an important impact on society. In other similarly important decisions (or potential decisions) that the US Supreme Court may rule on – the definition of marriage, the legality of efforts to suppress voting, the rollback on reproductive rights and affirmative action legislation, the constitutionality of ‘personhood’ amendments and state laws – there are real concerns about how a conservative majority can fundamentally alter our socio-political landscape. Having control over nominations (we need not digress on the tortured politics of getting a nominee affirmed in the current Senate) is critical if we think this matters. Second, what are the basic economic principles that inform the candidates for office? Clearly, Mitt Romney represents an attempt, financed by major corporate and right-wing backers, to alter the current accord on the role of government more generally and with regard the social safety net in particular. Doubling down on the bankrupt trickle-down policies and an affinity of an Ayan Rand form of extreme capitalism (where each person has an obligation to take care of oneself and society has no obligation to care for anyone) clearly stakes out a vision of society that will inflict great pain on the most needy. At the same time, while we might expect that another term for Barack Obama will avoid the worst of these consequences, it is not difficult to point out that on many levels his has not been a progressive administration but rather one pursuing a center-right agenda. It is the reality that politics in the US has been significantly redefined so that the spectrum has steadily shifted to the right, and the center of the 1960s has now become the hard left edge in this century. We can discuss endlessly, and many do, about the pros and cons for supporting Obama, about whether or not we should cast our vote for a Green Party or Socialist candidate. We can lament the absence of a real workers’ party or a third party alternative (and countries with Socialist, Communist, Green, and Labor Parties represented in electoral politics do not ensure governments that pursue progressive social and economic agendas). We can even argue over whether or not participation in elections even matters. Lenin was clear that one of the key steps to seizing power when mass action is not an option is through bourgeois electoral politics. After all, there is a case to be made that over the past three decades, certainly with the election of Ronald Reagan and perhaps as far back as the election of Richard Nixon, the Right has been winning the propaganda campaign. How else can we explain why so many people believe unions (in this country representing only 13 percent of the workforce) have undue political influence and dominate the economy – and it does not take much thought to recognize that the most important unions today, in terms of the potential for political action, are in the public sector, all of which can help explain the recent assault on teacher, first responder, and other public employee unions at all levels. At the same time, leadership does matter. Nixon, the Cold Warrior, was able to blunt Conservative opposition in his overtures and rapprochement with China. Clinton, as the head of a Democratic Party 450818 CRS0010.1177/0896920512464607EditorialCritical Sociology 2012

Women in the Driver's Seat: An Exploratory Study of Perceptions and Experiences of Female Truck Drivers and Their Employers in South Africa

The road freight industry is essential to Southern African economies, and South Africa, the largest economy and port of entry and exit for the majority of goods coming and going to the region, has a shortage of trained, quality truck drivers. This study investigates the extent to which employers are hiring female drivers in response to this skilled-labour shortage and brings to light the experiences of both employers and female truck drivers in South Africa's road freight industry. Although there is a dearth of literature on the experiences of women in skilled blue-collar work in South Africa, previous studies from the developed world have established certain expectations for the integration of women into traditionally male-dominated fields; the results of this study are discussed in relation to these expectations. Findings suggest that women are increasingly targeted for employment, beyond the requirements of affirmative action legislation, due to the perception that female drivers are safer, more conscientious, less likely to endanger public safety and company property, and less likely to engage in risky forms of behaviour including those associated with exposure to HIV/AIDS. This has led some employers to conclude that the female drivers they employ are not only equal but superior to their male colleagues. While female drivers note challenges in gaining entry and acceptance in the industry, they also report a near-unanimously positive experience with colleagues and supervisors. This study furthers our understanding of changing gender dynamics in South Africa as well as the secondary impacts of HIV/AIDS on southern African countries. The future of female employment in South Africa's road freight industry holds both opportunities and challenges.

In Pursuit of Women’s Representation: A Pragmatic Approach to Improving Women’s Representation in Canadian Politics

This essay addresses the democratic deficit in women's representation in Canadian politics that hinders the access of all citizens in Canada to free, equal, and meaningful opportunities to engage in all levels of political affairs. In doing so, a number of socio-cultural and structural barriers to women's participation in federal politics are identified. In turn, strategies to overcome these barriers are presented while making effort to tackle the conditions underlying women’s misrepresentation, as opposed to promoting explicitly compulsory solutions such as affirmative action legislation. The purpose of my research is to guide Canadian policy structures and social standards toward a new paradigm in Canadian politics where women are liberated from having to face the tension between the implications of their status as the 'other' and their desire to meaningfully contribute to the political affairs of the Canadian state.

Activating Diversity: The Impact of Student Race on Contributions to Course Discussions

Racial diversity is understood to play an important role for all students on the college campus. In recent years, much effort has gone into documenting the positive effects of this diversity. However, few studies have focused on how diversity impacts student interactions in the classroom, and even fewer studies attempt to quantify contributions from students of different races. Using Web blog discussions about race and religion, the authors uncover the differences in contributions black and white students make to those discussions. The implications of these findings are important for scholars interested in how diversity impacts student learning, and for policymakers advocating on behalf of affirmative action legislation.

Access to higher education for Palestinians in Israel

PurposeThe paper seeks to analyze the characteristics of higher education (HE) among Palestinian Arabs in Israel (PAI). It aims to indicate the main trends that have taken place in higher education since the establishment of the State of Israel, especially in the last decade, and to examine the main factors that have hindered access to higher education for this minority group.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a meta‐analysis of official statistics and other official documents, and on an analysis of relevant recent research studies.FindingsThe analysis shows that although there has been an increase in the numbers and percentages of PAI studying in Israeli HE institutes, especially for women, structural blocks still hinder their access to Israeli HE institutes, a situation exacerbated by their deficient preparation in secondary school. Their disproportionate under‐representation in the HE system reflects policies relating to power distribution and control in Israeli society.Social implicationsPolicy favoring re‐distribution of power alongside affirmative action legislation could influence the structure of the HE system and improve PAI minority representation in Israeli HE institutes.Originality/valueThe paper indicates the need for affirmative action to increase the Palestinian minority population's access to higher education in Israel.

The Effect Of Diversity Mandates: The Case Of Mississippi Institutions Of Higher Learning

After more than 40 years since the University of Mississippi integrated its student body and the passage of civil rights and affirmative action legislation throughout the United States, universities are confronting the issue of developing not only a diverse student body, but also a diverse faculty, staff, and administration. In the intervening years, much research has been conducted in the area of diversity within universities. Past research focused on the attitudes towards diversity, necessity and benefits of diversity, and student initiatives to address these issues. However, the vast majority of diversity research centers on human resources issues. In 2006, Commissioner Tom Meredith of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) charged the Mississippi higher education institutions with increasing the diversity of faculty, staff, and students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the diversity among these institutions and to determine the effect of the mandate by the IHL on the diversity of employees and students at these universities. Data analysis includes a report of the current diversity status and analysis of change based on the mandate. This study concludes with a discussion of the results, implications of these results, and directions for future research.

Job Satisfaction and Employment Equity in South Africa

This paper is the first to estimate job satisfaction equations in post-Apartheid South Africa. Absolute earnings contribute to greater job satisfaction. Racial group is also an important predictor of job satisfaction, but, when interacted with a proxy for affirmative action legislation, it is found that black job satisfaction is positively correlated with this legislation whereas coloured and to a lesser extent white job satisfaction is diminished. © The author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email:journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework

This paper critically reviews the literature on managing diversity through human resource management (HRM). We discuss the major issues and objectives of managing diversity and examine the state of human resource diversity management practices in organizations. Our review shows that inequality and discrimination still widely exist and HRM has focused mainly on compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation. Less attention has been paid to valuing, developing and making use of diversity. Our review reveals limited literature examining how diversity is managed in organizations through effective human resource management. We develop a framework that presents strategies for HR diversity management at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Our review also discusses the implications for practice and further research.

Australian Anti-Discrimination Laws: Framework, Developments and Issues

Australian anti-discrimination laws reflect an individual complaints-based model of anti-discrimination laws, seeking to address discrimination and inequality by providing individual victims with the right to take legal action against the individual discriminator for compensation. Under this fault-based system, employers are prohibited from discriminating and, in the event of transgression, liable to the victim but otherwise not specifically required to be proactive in eliminating discrimination or promoting equality. While they were radical at the time of their introduction, over thirty years ago, the significant limitations of Australian anti-discrimination laws in addressing the many different forms of discrimination have since surfaced, signaling the need for development. The objective of these laws is to eliminate discrimination', the regulatory mechanisms in the legislation are largely ineffective at achieving this goal. The most recent developments or proposals in Australia - namely, in respect of age and family responsibilities discrimination - do little more than extend the existing framework to new grounds, providing a limited right of redress and a symbolic statement, but failing to acknowledge and address the regulatory limitations of system at large. In this paper, I provide an outline of the current anti-discrimination laws in Australia, an analysis of the regulatory framework established by this legislation, and a closer look at the elements and difficulties relating to proof of direct and indirect discrimination within this framework. Following a brief outline of affirmative action legislation, I note three recent developments in the final part that illustrate both innovation and limitation: the introduction in 2004 of a federal Age Discrimination Act; the introduction of 'Disability Standards' in respect of public transport and education; and the push to establish wider anti-discrimination law protection for workers with family responsibilities.

Diversity Management in Health: Cross National Organisational Study

AbstractThe proportion of people who are ethnically diverse is growing in the United States, Australia, Canada and western Europe. Racial and ethnic disparities in health status remain despite thirty years of multicultural health initiatives in Australia and forty years of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action legislation in the United States. Diversity management is a human resource management approach emerging from the United States that advocates valuing diversity, in both “hard” and “soft” versions. A “Scandinavian model” of diversity management is emerging from critiques of the US model. Little empirical research has been conducted on how diversity management is enacted in healthcare organizations. This paper reports on a comparative survey of managers from 30 Pennsylvania hospitals with 9 in Sydney, Australia. Findings show that hospitals can improve in implementation of best practices in diversity management for both the Australian and the US samples. Questions of how management concepts translate across countries, health care organizations and professions are raised.

Board diversity in the United Kingdom and Norway: an exploratory analysis

This paper examines the evolving pattern of gender diversity of the boards of directors of leading Norwegian and British companies on a longitudinal basis. The period covered by the study covers the run up to proposed affirmative action legislation in Norway and, as such, affords an insight into corporate actions in this emerging institutional context. The findings demonstrate that, while board diversity has grown substantially in both countries in recent years, it has done so considerably more rapidly in Norway than in the United Kingdom. The analysis highlights the sectoral variation between the countries in the pattern and growth of board diversity and suggests that the vast majority of the overall growth in board diversity is the result of changing firm behaviour rather than sectoral shift in the United Kingdom or Norwegian economies. It is also shown that as diversity has increased there has been no fall in how experienced female directors are; neither is there evidence of a rise in the number of boards that female directors sit on. This suggests that the rapid growth in board diversity has been achieved without any fall in the quality of female directors.

Equal opportunity and affirmative action for South African women: a benefit or barrier?

PurposeThe paper aims to examine whether the South African government and its corporate organizations have been successful in employing women as professional equals by utilizing them fully in senior and top management positions after equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation was introduced by the democratic government.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive and theoretical paper, and thus secondary data from previous studies are used as comparative analysis for discussions and examinations.FindingsReaching top level positions is still uncommon for South Africa's women, as its corporate environment is not yet ready to accept women as professional equals, resulting in government legislation and policies working against women's growth and advancement instead of working in their favour. Suggestions are made for future studies to investigate what makes women worldwide flourish in government and public sector jobs, but fail in private and corporate sectors.Practical implicationsRecommends implications for South Africa's corporate organizations to become more women‐sensitive and friendly by empowering women as a group regardless of their race and colour for government policy and legislation to be successful. This area is unexplored, thus making it a new topic.Originality/valueThis paper may be of value to those professional women who are oblivious to barriers affecting their advancement and to corporate organizations puzzled by the imperceptible upward mobility of women in top management positions despite the implementation of equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation.

Gender Discrimination and Regulatory Behaviour: An Exploratory Study in Policing

This paper examines the relationship between police departments and equity agencies in Australia. Previous research has shown marked differences in the performance of police in fulfilling the requirements of equity legislation. Responsibility for ensuring compliance with antidiscrimination and affirmative action legislation rests with equity agencies — which ‘police the police’. The paper reports the results from a survey of these agencies to obtain their accounts of factors facilitating or hindering police compliance. These factors are framed in terms of agency powers, resources, regulatory strategies and police responses. The study found that regulatory agencies were highly detached from police departments and that differences in compliance were largely the result of factors independent of regulatory action. A ‘culture of under-enforcement’ remained as the most likely explanation for regulatory failure. The paper concludes by emphasising the need for more active monitoring and a more confrontational approach to under-achieving departments.