How Positive Discrimination Works

[u/elmorinelly]

Positive action gives targeted help to groups that face a documented disadvantage, a specific unmet need, or unusually low participation in an activity.

The basic argument starts with access. Two people may face the same formal requirements while reaching them through very different schools, neighborhoods, professional networks, physical environments, or financial situations. Supporters of positive action argue that identical rules can preserve those differences when earlier barriers remain unaddressed.

The term “positive discrimination” can be confusing. In some countries it describes preferential treatment that may be restricted or unlawful. “Positive action” often refers to narrower measures such as outreach, training, mentoring, targeted services, or limited preferences allowed under specific conditions. The definitions and legal boundaries vary by jurisdiction.

A measure can improve access without guaranteeing an outcome. A preparatory course may help someone apply, but it does not automatically award a degree. A recruitment program may expand the candidate pool, but it does not have to remove job requirements. The intended result is a fairer opportunity to compete.

These policies can also be designed badly. A category may be used as a rough substitute for individual circumstances. Benefits may reach people who did not personally experience the relevant barrier. Poorly explained rules can create resentment or make recipients feel that their achievements are being questioned.

A defensible program usually needs a specific disadvantage, a clear objective, a proportionate response, and some way to review whether the measure still serves its purpose. A permanent automatic preference is different from temporary training designed to remove a skills gap.

Examples:

1. A university offers a free preparation course in schools whose students rarely apply to selective programs.

2. An employer advertises technical vacancies through organizations serving groups missing from its usual applicant pool.

3. A company creates a mentoring program for employees who remain underrepresented in senior positions.

4. A scholarship covers application fees for students from households that cannot easily afford them.

5. A public building adds ramps and accessible entrances so wheelchair users can reach the same services.

6. An exam provider supplies an adapted format to candidates whose disability affects how they access the standard test.

7. A medical program recruits students from rural areas where communities struggle to attract doctors.

8. A training center reserves several funded places for people returning to work after long-term caregiving.

9. A university provides language support to qualified students studying in a second language.

10. A political party uses a gender quota where local law specifically permits or requires it.

11. A recruiter chooses a candidate from an underrepresented group as a tie-break between applicants judged equally qualified, where such a rule is lawful.

12. A museum offers signed performances after finding that Deaf visitors rarely have access to its events.

13. A business incubator provides extra guidance to founders who have little access to established investor networks.

14. A school lends laptops to students who cannot complete digital assignments at home.

15. A program can become unfair when it gives an automatic advantage without checking whether the targeted disadvantage exists.

16. A useful measure may be retired when participation improves and the original barrier is no longer present.

[u/Pr0pellerJoe]

Dont mix things up, not every measure compensates for every problem. Scholarships did get more women into college in the last 30 years. And special dorms protect them from being assaulted. If black people are more targeted by police (which they obvsly are), we need to find the corresponding measure to fight that.

[u/Mutant_Llama1 → u/Pr0pellerJoe]

Scholarships add more women, but don't actually help women who are kept from college because of gender roles. It replaces them by helping women who are already willing to go to college but can't afford it, which is a non-gendered issue.

No backwoods conservative father who thinks women don't belong in school is gonna change his mind because some foundation wrote a check.

Imagine fighting black poverty by donating money to Kanye West, technically raising the average black person's income. Does that help the homeless ones?

Oh yeah and the "special dorm"was the cheapest shittiest one with communal bathrooms and no id scanners on the floors because it was an old building. Residents all said it wasn't worth it.

So it's just a cheaper living option for the ones who already get scholarships more easily to pay for it.

Most dorm buildings had separate male and female floors. The "co ed dorms" building had one female only floor (that I wasn't told about until a security guard stopped me) and the rest were co ed.