11 Facts About Affirmative Action

Welcome to DoSomething.org, a global movement of millions of young people making positive change, online and off! The 11 facts you want are below, and the sources for the facts are at the very bottom of the page. After you learn something, Do Something! Find out how to take action here.

1. “Affirmative action” is a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination between job applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future.^["Affirmative action." LII / Legal Information Institute. http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/affirmative_action (accessed July 22, 2014).]
2. Since the birth of affirmative action in the 1960s, many cases of revolving around affirmative action have been brought to the Supreme Court. Host a game night to spark a discussion about inequality. Sign up for Oppression Monopoly.^["Affirmative Action: Court Decisions." Affirmative Action: Court Decisions. http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-court-decisions.aspx (accessed July 22, 2014).]
3. The theory of “mismatch” is the idea that using affirmative action to place students in schools they wouldn’t normally be accepted to is actually hurting them, because they fall behind and struggle in their studies.^[Slater, Dan. "Does Affirmative Action Do What It Should?." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=affirmativeaction (accessed July 23, 2014).]
4. While research varies, affirmative action in college admission offices is the equivalent of adding 150 to 310 points on an SAT score for a minority.^[Slater, Dan. "Does Affirmative Action Do What It Should?." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=affirmativeaction (accessed July 23, 2014).]
5. In 2012, woman made up 46.9% of the workforce and held roughly 51.5% of managerial, professional, and related positions.^["Knowledge Center." Catalyst. http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workplace (accessed July 20, 2014).]
6. After affirmative action programs were outlawed in Texas in 1995, the University of Texas Law School Latino student enrollment has been cut in half.^["Affirmative Action Facts." University of Michigan. http://www.umich.edu/~daap/facts.htm (accessed July 23, 2014).]
7. Less than 40% of the MBAs earned in the 2010-2011 school year were by women.^["Knowledge Center." Catalyst. http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workplace (accessed July 20, 2014).]
8. In 2011, Asian men and women earned more than their white, black, and Hispanic counterparts in the US.^["Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2011." U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2011.pdf (accessed July 23, 2014).]
9. Men and women ages 35 and over were studied based on their 2011 earnings. Women earned between 19 and 25% less than their male counterparts^["The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (2014)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/ (accessed July 23, 2014).]
10. In a comparison study between the 1999-2000 school year and the 2009-2010 school year, roughly 36% more whites received their master’s degree, while both black and Hispanic rates of graduation more than doubled.^["Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72 (accessed July 22, 2014).]
11. The unemployment rate as of June 2014 is made up of 5.3% white, 10.7% black, 7.8% Latino or Hispanic, with the lowest percentage being Asian at 5.1%.^["Unemployment Demographics." Department of Numbers. http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/demographics/ (accessed July 20, 2014).]