Is Affirmative Action for Women an Appropriate Instrument for Achieving Gender Equity?
PRO By Ruth Barnard School of Nursing Yes, affirmative action was and is needed to achieve full gender equity in employment. Despite 30 years of non-discrimination law, gender prejudice and discrimination still persist. Let’s just look at the facts. Comparably qualified women still make less money than men. The proportion of women in regular University of Michigan faculty appointments is low, and most are in the lower paid non-tenured positions. Of the 10 University of Michigan executive officers, only two are women. Women have made inroads into previously all-male bastions like the Supreme Court and the ranks of astronauts. But at The University of Michigan, the proportion of tenure-track women professors has changed little. In 1984, 16.6 percent of tenure-track faculty were women. Despite affirmative action being the law, in 1994 this had increased to only 21 percent, with most of the increase at the assistant professor level. The supply of women was certainly available in the pipeli
