Affirmative action?

[Cindy Hale]

On Tue, 21 Mar 1995 17:28:46 +0100, Karine Hertzberg wrote:

>Just a question:
>
>In Norway, the equivalent policy to affirmative action states that in
>certain fields (science being one, at least at universities), when a woman
>is equal in qualifications with the best male applicant, the woman should
>get the position or job. In short, the employer still gets the best
>applicant, but it's also a woman. 
>
>Now my question: since so many are against affirmative action in the US,
>what does it actually mean? Does it mean that a woman can be employed
>although she cannot compete with the top male applicant, or does it work
>the same way as in Norway? If the latter is the case, why are you
>complaining that this results in women getting positions they don't
>deserve? By definition, they will be as qualified as the best man and hence
>deserve it as much.
>
>Looking forward to some clarifying.

I KNOW some will disagree with me hear but the ground rules are basically 
the same here as you described for Norway.  MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE is that 
often women have to be much more qualified than the man and still often do 
not get the posistion.  There is the perception at least that women and 
minorities are getting positions that they are not qualified for.  While 
this may on a rare occasion occur it is not common by any stretch of the 
imagination.  What we are dealing with hear as put by a previous posting 
is perceptions not realities.  If all we had to deal with were realities 
then the problem would likely go away.

Cindy Hale
University of Minnesota - Duluth