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Stephanie Touch Dr. Alesha Gayle English 0701 03 Dec. 2013 Affirmative Action Does Not Help Minorities in the Workplace Affirmative Action is a public policy that helps minorities receive the same opportunities in education and occupations. Is Affirmative Action actually helping minorities in the workplace? It is giving equal opportunity to all people, but it is not helping minorities in the workplace. Although Americans do not speak of the distinction as class, it still exists. Affirmative action cannot help minorities in the workplace because of hostile working environment, which comes from people being in different classes. In reality, certain things people do or say offend people. It will not be easy for people to connect with each other. Another reason why affirmative action cannot help minorities in the workplace is because women are being discriminated against for their gender. Women are still less likely to get jobs compared to men. Lastly, people are discriminated against their race. Affirmative action cannot help that because people in the workplace will be of other races. Racism still exists in the United States even though people do not usually admit to it. In all, affirmative action does not help minorities in the workplace. To begin with, a hostile working area cannot be fixed by Affirmative Action because of people within different social classes, and it will be uncomfortable for them. In the article, Fix Racial Harassment Before Hostile Environment Starts Affecting Employee Performance, there was a recent case that displayed hostility in the workplace. It was stated that Louis, a black man, was fired from his job as a fork lifter after an argument he had with a white coworker about an

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accident in the workplace. The company stated that he has a reputation of anger issues and was being aggressive during the argument. Louis stated that he was working in a hostile environment where his white coworkers used the N-word and called him boy (Fix Racial Harassment). This case showed that stereotypes were present in the working environment, such as, Louis being aggressive during the argument when it was clearly used as an excuse because people still have their biases. So, Affirmative Action cannot help change peoples opinions on certain ethnic groups because people will continue to have their own judgments. Moreover, Affirmative Action does not help minorities such as women because in America there is still very much discrimination against women. One of the discriminations against women is that they cannot handle strength jobs. It does not help women because, in the workplace, women continue to not have the same opportunities as men. In America, it is believed that women cannot handle the same occupations as men can so therefore, it is less likely for women to get hired for a mans job. Now, in the 21st century, women are still looked down upon as a stay home mother from the 1950s. It was stated by the National Womens Law Center that, affirmative action for women is supposed to put women in the same talent pool while hiring employees (Affirmative Action and What it Means for Women). The NWLC also said that there was a report of a woman asking for permission for employee at a grocery store, but was turned down for training because she was a woman. They only offered training to men, including her son. This is known as gender discrimination because women are still not given the same opportunities as men. Women should be allowed to have the same opportunities as men because of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action does not help women in the workplace because it is believed that women cannot work in jobs that require strength which is not fair for them because they should be able to work where they want to and not be told they cannot

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because of their gender. Racism is still present in America and the workplace. Looking back on the case with Louis, the hostile working environment was not the only problem, it was also a result of racism. Minorities in occupations are still being treated with less respect and certain groups are given advantages that are not given to other groups. Sherrie Scott stated in her article, What Are the Disadvantages of Affirmative Action in the Workplace, that Affirmative Action requires employers to focus more on racial and gender problems than on the potential performance of the employees (Scott). Employers should be more focused on finding the right person to fit the job that is required instead of looking at race. Affirmative Action was created so that minorities received the same opportunities as majorities. Employers should be more focused on the quota they can fill, not merit. Employers are continuing to focus more on people ethnic backgrounds and not focusing on if the applicant can actually do the job they are being offered. It also reveals a reverse discrimination, Scott writes (Scott). Affirmative Action is focusing on how to get equal opportunity for all groups but is giving a helping hand only to the minority. Employers should be able to hirer a person that is fit for the job and not trying to fill the quota that they need to offer opportunities for minorities. Someone from a debate argues, Employers should be allowed to hire the person best suited for the job description. After all his livelihood is at stake if his business fails--which it could if he was forced to hire someone unqualified to meet a status quo of minorities (Is Affirmative Action a good public policy?). Hiring unqualified people for a job to fit the quota is not fair to the other applicants and the employers and it shows how reverse discrimination exists. Affirmative Action claims it is against discrimination, even though it only benefits minorities and not the majority. So, in this case, both the minority and the majority are being discriminated.

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Affirmative Action adds racial diversity to the workplace. It gives minorities better job opportunities and the ability to make money to support their families. It also helps underrepresented students get noticed by colleges and universities. The National Conference of State Legislators points out that, Supporters believe that certain racial or ethnic groups are disadvantaged because they are frequently in lower income brackets and consequently are not exposed to the same resources as students from higher socioeconomic classes. The Affirmative Action policy is supposed to make sure that people from all backgrounds and classes have the same opportunity for education and employment. With this being said, Affirmative Action actually does not help minorities in the workplace. It does not help minorities because they continue to be discriminated against and they do not have that social capital that majorities have. On her blog Social Capital & Affirmative Action, a sociologist writes, Our social capital is accumulated from our socioeconomic strata, our geography, our own circumstances within our community and family, our intelligence and a number of factors that combine to produce opportunity and how we respond to that opportunity (Kyra). What she is simply saying is that a wealthy person will have more social capital that a poor person. This goes back to how people in the workplace will feel uncomfortable because of their lack of social capital. Then, it leads to a hostile working environment where people are being treated differently because of their race, gender, or amount of social capital. Therefore, social capital plays a big part in employment altogether and Affirmative Action cannot change that. Affirmative Action does not help minorities in the workplace. People are being discriminated against, whether they or rich or poor. There will continue to be in a hostile working environment because the Affirmative Action policy cannot change peoples opinions and judgments about race. Women are not being helped by this policy because they are being

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discriminated against and it is believed that a women cannot do a mans job. Moreover, there is discrimination on both parts. It is also called reverse discrimination, which is against the people of the upper class. It is unfair to the upper class because it is busy trying to help minorities that opportunities are being taken away from the upper class. So, no matter what affirmative action does, discrimination will continue to exist in occupations.

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Works Cited Affirmative Action. Nyu.edu. 18 Sept. 2013. Affirmative Action and What It Means for Women. Nwlc.org. 2013 National Women's Law Center. 01 July 2000. 18 Sept. 2013. Affirmative Action: Overview. Ncsl.org. 2013 National Conference of State Legislatures. 2013 June. 18 Sept. 2013. Fix Racial Harassment Before Hostile Environment Starts Affecting Employee Performance. Lexisnexis.com. 2013 LexisNexis. 8 Aug. 2013. 18 Sept. 2013. Kyra at the Moment. Social Capital & Affirmative Action. Kyrafrost.blogspot.com. 13 June 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Scott, Sherrie. What Are the Disadvantages of Affirmative Action in the Workplace?. Smallbusiness.chron.com. 2013 Hearst Communications, Inc. 2013. 18 Sept. 2013.