Of course women and minorities can eventually fight their way to equality, given thousands of years. Affirmative action is to speed up the process, to work to fight against ways that are such a staple of our society that no one thinks to question them. It's a clumsy system, but it works, and it's the only one we have. Can you think of another way? People are selfish. A businessman would rather hire a white man over an equally-qualified (or more qualified) woman/minority because of the simple economic fact that people are more likely to trust a white male when it comes to handling money and therefore buy from him. Because white male dominance is the current backbone of our society, and even those who don't like it still go along with it because to go against it is to risk status and money, even safety. BUT, if everyone sees minorities and women in positions of authority, the subconscious belief that they do not belong there will shift. That is what affirmative action does, it changes the climate artificially so that it can change genuinely.
Actually I can think of better ways. It it doesn't work. It only increases prejudice and racism. When people see an unqualified person get promoted simply because they are black or female it makes them think blacks and females are dumber and it certainly isn't going to make them feel think better of them. There are better ways and many people are already doing them. I just read a great article about these five companies who all have these interesting and different programs to help women and minorities get promoted more. (some were just for women some were for both women and minorities) They all have increased the number of women promoted and none of them involve quotas. I have never seen any research to show or heard anyone say or imply that they'd rather buy things from a white male or trust them more to handle their money either. Changing something artificially doesn't really change it. Changing laws doesn't change people's hearts. Sometimes it can make them more hardened because they resent being forced to do something they wouldn't otherwise do.
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I have never seen any research to show or heard anyone say or imply that they'd rather buy things from a white male or trust them more to handle their money either.
Changing something artificially doesn't really change it. Changing laws doesn't change people's hearts. Sometimes it can make them more hardened because they resent being forced to do something they wouldn't otherwise do.
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