The American Anti‐Discrimination Legislation and its Impact on the Utilisation of Blacks and Women

Since the mid‐fifties, employment discrimination against minority groups and women has been a matter of considerable social and political concern in America. Numerous studies have found the prevalence of discrimination in the workplace towards blacks, females, and other minority groups. This had led the Congress to enact innovative anti‐discrimination legislation which has now reached universal coverage. The agencies administering this legislation have recently been given wide powers of enforcement. Moreover, the courts have interpreted the law in such a way that the guidelines favouring the increased utilisation of minority groups issued by these agencies have been upheld. This has had a dramatic impact on employer hiring and promotion procedures and practices.