AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Affirmative Action is a remedial and preventative concept imposing a duty on employers, employment agencies, and labor unions to take positive steps to improve the work opportunities of women, racial and ethnic minorities, handicapped, and persons belonging to other groups who have been denied job opportunities. Affirmative Action involves activities in each step of the employment process, such as recruitment, selection, training, promotion, and retention, which are taken for the specific purpose of eliminating the present effects of past discrimination. An effectively implemented Affirmative Action program would result in measurable yearly improvements in achieving a representative and balanced work force. The Iowa Civil Rights Commission has the responsibility to monitor and coordinate Affirmative Action in state government. The primary document giving the Commission this responsibility is the Governor's Executive Order Number Fifteen.

Two of the most significant events in this reporting year are:

1. The promulgation of Executive Order Number Forty-Six and the subsequent implementation efforts.

2. The completion and publication of the Commission's report "Affirmative Action Review 1973-1981." For more information, contact Ta-Yu Yang at 515/281-8084.