Skip to main content

Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality: Review of Evidence, Policies, and Practices

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Gender Equality

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

  • 324 Accesses

Definitions

Affirmative action: Affirmative action covers programmes, initiatives, measures, policies, strategies, or interventions aimed at correcting or addressing inequality and discrimination against people with protected characteristics in employment and access to services, all measures which seek by means of positive steps to alter existing social practices to eliminate patterns of group exclusion and disadvantage (Bell et al. 1996; Black and Garner 1999).

Gender equality: Gender equality is a concept that bestows on people of all genders to have equal access, privileges, and responsibilities (European Institute for Gender Equality 2020). It respects the different desires and behaviors of both women and men and gives all human beings the freedom to develop to their full potentials without the restrictions imposed by gender roles (European Commission 1998) and does not mean that women and men will become the same (European Institute for Gender Equality 2020).

Introduction

The...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adam K (1997) The politics of redress: South African style affirmative action. J Mod Afr Stud 35(2):231–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Adejumo O (2013) Affirmative action in South Africa are we creating new casualties? J Psychol Issues Organ Cult 3(1):14–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Ashraf F (2010) Positive Action in the UK. In: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (ed) Dossier Positive Maßnahmen Von Antidiskriminierung zu Diversity. Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin Germany, pp 44–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Darr A (2010) The involvement of BME staff in NHS disciplinary proceedings. University of Bradford, Bradford

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Sharps PW (2013) A comparative analysis of affirmative action in the United Kingdom and United States. J Psychol Issues Organ Cult 3(S1):28–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Bucktrout AL, Giga SI, Ashraf F, Baxter C, Johnson MR (2006a) A concept analysis of positive action in health and education. Divers Health Soc Care 3:233–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Giga S, Ashraf F, Bucktrout A, Jackson H, Johnson M, Baxter C (2006b) Positive action research in education and health. University of Bradford, Bradford

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibong U, Eferakorho J, Darr A, Bell M, Waddington L, Scally A, Wladasch K, Bedard T, Peric T, Russinova S (2009) International perspectives on positive action measures: A comparative analysis in the European Union, Canada, the United States and South Africa. European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Luxemburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashraf A, Archibong U (2009) Journeying towards leadership: personal accounts of experiences of corrective action by managers in NHS organisations. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 9(3):171–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter C, Archibong U, Giga S, Kular R (2008) Critical success factors in the implementation of positive action in the NHS UK. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 8(2):18–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell C, Hegarty A, Livingstone S (1996) The enduring controversy: developments in affirmative action law in North America. Int J Discrim Law 1 (3):233–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell M, Waddington L, Archibong U (2010) Exploring positive action from a legal perspective in EU and non EU countries. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 9(6):43–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Black HC, Garner BA (1999) Black’s law dictionary, 7th edn. West Publishing Company, Eagan

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchill F (2018) Supplier diversity ‘fundamental’ to HS2 success. @supplymgmt. https://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2018/september/supplier-diversity-fundamental-to-hs2-success/. Accessed 18 Oct 2019

  • Committee of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2017) Special measure and affirmation action to address systemic discrimination and disruption of the relationship between poverty and racism. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/14579OHCHR_Comm_on_the_Elimination_of_Racial_Discrimination.pdf. Accessed 19 Oct 2019

  • Crosby FJ, Iyer A, Sincharoen S (2006) Understanding affirmative action. Annu Rev Psychol 57:585–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies C (2019) Exploring positive action as a tool to address under-representation in apprenticeships. Research report 123. Equality and Human Rights Commission, Manchester, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies C, Robison M (2016) Bridging the gap: an exploration of the use and impact of positive action in the United Kingdom. Int J Discrim Law 16(2–3):83–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deere CD (2018) Sustainable development goals, gender equality and the distribution of land in Latin America. cadernos pagu 2019 (52). https://www.scielo.br/pdf/cpa/n52/en_1809-4449-cpa-18094449201800520006.pdf

  • Dhami RS, Squires J, Modood T (2006) Developing positive action policies: learning from the experiences of Europe and North America. vol Research Report 406. Department for Work and Pensions, Leeds, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich JW (2013) The international spread of affirmative action policies: what is true equality? ISA Annual Convention, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Dower C, Berkowitz G, Grumbach K, Wong C (1999) From Affirmative Action to health: a critical appraisal of the literature regarding the impact of affirmative action. UCSF Center for the Health Professions and UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Equality Act (2010) Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/content. Accessed 19 Oct 2019

  • European Commission (1998) Earning differentials between men and women. Study based on the structure of earnings survey (SES). European Commission, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • European Institute for Gender Equality (2020) Gender mainstreaming: concepts and definitions. https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/concepts-and-definitions. Accessed 14 Apr 2020

  • Gardiner S, Riches L (2016) Racism and homophobia in English football: the equality act, positive action and the limits of law. Int J Discrim Law 16(2-3):102–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrison-Wade DF, Lewis CW (2004) Affirmative action: history and analysis. J Coll Admiss 184:23–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Gysman N (2018) Beyond the numbers: does a high number of women in political corridors translate into delivery of Sustainable Development Goals 5 on gender equality and 16 on peace and security in the SADC region? Agenda 32(1):46–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehler G (2016) Tapping the Sustainable Development Goals for progressive gender equity and equality policy? Gend Dev 24(1):53–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrudden C (1986) Rethinking positive action. Ind Law J 15:219–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moses MS (2010) Moral and instrumental rationales for affirmative action in five national contexts. Educ Res 39(3):211–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niederle M, Segal C, Vesterlund L (2013) How costly is diversity? Affirmative action in light of gender differences in competitiveness. Manag Sci 59(1):1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noon M (2010) The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination? Work Employ Soc 24(4):728–739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer DB (2016) The disappearance of voluntary affirmative action from the US workplace. J Poverty Soc Just 24(1):37–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasnic DC (2017) Is affirmative action fair or inherently unfair? a look at the American version and some comparisons with other countries. Hungarian Labour Law E-Journal 2:48–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabbagh D (2011) Elements toward a comparative analysis of affirmative action policies. Available at SSRN 1908653

    Google Scholar 

  • SDG Knowledge Platform (2019) Sustainable Development Goal 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5 Accessed 19 Oct 2019

  • Shah HB (2019) Radical reconstruction: (Re) Embracing affirmative action in private employment. U Balt L Rev 48 (2):203–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva GHG (2019) An overview of affirmative action policies in public federal universities in Southeast Brazil. Cad Pesqui 49(173):184–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva GHG, Skovsmose O (2019) Affirmative actions in terms of special rights: confronting structural violence in Brazilian higher education. Power Educ Lond 11(2):204–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teles SM (2001) Positive action or affirmative action? The persistence of Britain’s antidiscrimination regime. In: Skrentny JD (ed) Color lines: affirmative action, immigration, and civil rights options for America. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 241–269

    Google Scholar 

  • UN Women 2011/12 Progress of the world’s women: in pursuit of justice. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2011/7/progress-of-the-world-s-women-in-pursuit-of-justice. Accessed 19 Oct 2019

  • UNESCO (2013/14) Education for all global monitoring report: teaching and learning: achieving quality for all. UNESCO Publishing, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • UNFPA (2014) State of world population: adolescents, youth and the transformation of the future. Uited Nations Populations Fund. https://eeca.unfpa.org/en/publications/state-world-population-2014-report. Accessed Oct 2019

  • United Nations (2015) The millennium development goals report 2015. United Nations. https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf. Accessed Oct 2019

  • Vladimirovaa K, Le Blanc D (2015) How well are the links between education and other sustainable development goals covered in UN flagship reports? A contribution to the study of the science-policy interface on education in the UN system. DESA Working Paper No. 146. United Nations. Department of Economic & Social Affairs, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2007) World development report: development and the next generation. World Bank, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Uduak Archibong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Archibong, U., Utam, K.U. (2020). Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality: Review of Evidence, Policies, and Practices. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_52-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_52-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70060-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70060-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics