Canadian Race Relations Foundation

Affirmative action continues to be a controversial policy, whether it is applied in work settings or educational institutions. What is surprising is how little empirical evidence exists about the effects and effectiveness of this approach to redressing historical and contemporary inequalities. There is no end of debate rooted in ideological differences, and no shortage of studies documenting racial, ethnic and other forms of inequalities, but we don’t really know very much about how well affirmative action works when it has been applied. We are uncertain whether it is cost effective, or even if the policy has had an impact when it has been shown that inequalities have been reduced.

This report describes the results of a study of persons who have graduated from a Canadian school of social work during the decade 1991-2001. It follows the labour market experiences of all of the School’s graduates who came from certain designated groups, comparing their experiences with comparable “mainstream” graduates in the same time frame. Of particular interest to us was the question whether the inequalities evident in comparing the two groups at the point of entry into their social work program continued through the program and after graduation, or whether these differences became attenuated over time. If so, what would account for the decline in inequality?

Students included in our sample have graduated from a school that made an early (1975), consistent and strong commitment to affirmative action in recruiting, admitting and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds from the Maritime region. The objective of the policy has been to contribute to diversifying the student body of the school of social work as well as the profession of social work in the region, for the benefit of all students, the disadvantaged groups and the quality of service provided to clients in the region. Specifically, the policy has sought to encourage the admission and graduation of students from the region who are Aboriginal, indigenous Black, Acadian and persons with disabilities.

Special efforts are made by the School to recruit applications from the designated groups to the school. They need not apply under affirmative action, but if they do, they are given special treatment in the sense that their application is considered according to its individual merits, not as part of a competitive pool of applicants. If the individual application meets the minimum entrance requirements of the school, and if (based on letters of reference, the student’s personal statement and the like) the person is deemed to be likely to succeed in the academic program and in a social work career, then that person is likely to be accepted. Other, “mainstream,” applicants could meet these tests and not be admitted because, in a large pool of applicants, some would demonstrate higher levels of achievement and potential than others and would, therefore, be preferred for admission in a context where a limited number of places are available. Once admitted, affirmative action students and indeed any other students of the school who require it, are able to take advantage of special counselling, workshop and other activities designed to support them in their studies.

While the empirical literature on affirmative action in education and employment is scarce, there have been some notable contributions. In the United States, of particular note is the Presidential Report on Affirmative Action, commissioned by President Clinton and published in 1995 (Stephanopoulos and Edley, 1995). This exhaustive review was commissioned in particular to assess whether affirmative action works. The response in the report is that:

• There is near unanimous consensus among economists that government antidiscrimination programs beginning in 1964 contributed to the improved income of African Americans;
• Nevertheless, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about which specific antidiscrimination programs were most effective;
• It may well be that the programs collectively helped even though no single program was overwhelmingly effective; and
• Despite undeniable progress in many areas, the evidence is overwhelming that widespread discrimination and exclusion continue to exist.
  

A further important contribution was made by the former Presidents of Harvard and Princeton universities, Derek Bok and William Bowen. With the support of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Bowen and Bok (1998) examined the college and (for some) the post-college experiences of some 60,000 students, approximately 3,500 of whom were Black. These students had enrolled in 28 selective colleges and universities in the fall of 1976 or 1989. While the study had some methodological flaws, among its major conclusions are the following:

A third notable U.S study presented the results from a twenty-year retrospective matched cohort study of affirmative action admissions at the University of California avis Medical School. That study found that graduation and failure rates, as well as career patterns of special admissions and regular admissions students, are comparable.

They concluded that criteria other than undergraduate grade point average and MSAT scores can be used in predicting success in medical school, and that an admissions rocess that allowed for ethnicity and other special characteristics showed no evidence of diluting the quality of the graduates (Davidson and Lewis, 1997).

In Canada, much of the attention in this field is concentrated on the federal government’s employment equity policy, which obliges employers covered under the Employment Equity Act (1986) to identify the composition of their workforce and to develop an action plan that would remove systemic barriers and ensure that the workforce is representative of the population at all levels within the firm. While some research documents narrowing employment and wage gaps for at least some designated groups, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (which is responsible for the administration of the Act) is just now getting in a position to examine the specific contribution of the egislation. Other studies continue to document the disadvantaged and underrepresented position of designated groups in the labour market generally, as well as in specific fields, such as social work.