🪧 Weeding Out the "Weak"
How Australians minorities would be affected if Affirmative Action were scrapped and its overlap with the Voice to Parliament Referendum
What is Affirmative Action?
Affirmative Action is a set of procedures established to combat unjustified discrimination, remedy its effects from the past, and stop similar prejudice from happening in the future. This involves initiatives that take race and ethnicity into account with college admissions, targeted recruitment, career development programs, outreach programs, and more.
In the US, Affirmative Action has become well-covered, following the US Supreme Court’s decision abolish affirmative action in college admissions. Put simply, race will no longer be an aspect in the mix of considerations university admissions evaluate when accepting students.
How is Affirmative Action present in public and private institutions?
Affirmative action has prompted employers to reassess their hiring practices and workplace culture, promoting inclusivity. For instance, the Indigenous Employment Program, launched by the Australian government, seeks to increase Indigenous representation in the workforce. It has helped to pierce through structurally racist ceilings—albeit slowly—that have hindered marginalised communities’ career progression.
Many Australian universities have introduced measures to enhance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enrolment and retention, such as scholarships and tutoring programs. It has fostered a more vibrant academic environment, simultaneously enriching perspectives for all students. It has opened doors to fields traditionally dominated by certain groups, such as science and engineering for women.
What is the reality of affirmative action in Australia?
The “let them eat cake” approach to diversity in our nation is ostensibly progressive; it may only seem apparent in capital cities. The celebration of multiculturalism seems incongruent with the statistics. On average, only 8% of Indigenous people attain bachelor’s degrees. While there seems to be many Asian-Australians on campus, only 32.5% of their entire population attend university in actuality.
Students from higher-income families have greater exposure to academic development and extracurricular activities within good schools to prove they’re capable. Meanwhile, students with impoverished backgrounds suffer impoverished opportunities. Affirmative action gets them a seat at the table, if any, but offers them crumbs with inadequate platforms to pursue comprehensive, non-performative diversity.
How does this overlap with the timely Voice to Parliament Referendum?
Acts of repentance in Australia for the crimes committed against First Nations people have greased the wheels of equity programs in universities and the workforce. It has also aided in the rise—and fall—of multiple Indigenous commissions and committees that have historically suffered with every re-election of government. Through a constitutionally protected advisory board, the Voice shall prevent the back-and-forth swing of policies, programs, and investments that cannot be abolished without serious public attention.
What are the consequences of abolishing Affirmative Action in Australia?
The eradication of race from any sort of educational and employment screening in a period where minorities are only beginning to access benefits that remedy decades of discrimination against immigrants, refugees, and racial minorities, sets us back.
US states that had repealed affirmative action in the past had seen lower workforce participation and enrolment rates from Latinxs, Asians, and Black people. The playing field is no longer levelled when we allow rich, often Caucasian families more power to dominate selective universities and under-represented fields like medicine that have lasting impacts on the health of populations by race.
In reality, when minorities assimilate into Western culture, they’re more likely to be respected. The least that can be done in apology is to extend them the opportunity to feed themselves, give back to their own communities, and build stronger representation for younger generations to find inspiration in.
This is Of Common Clay, a love-letter-like documentation in pursuit of grounding myself to the common clay we walk on and are made of.
This is a bit different to my usual, being a uni assessment submission I felt needed a bigger platform. For a clearer understanding of the Voice to Parliament Referendum and your role in its constitutionalisation, I highly recommend Auspol Explained’s brilliant video explainer on it.