ination" -- let's stop giving special rights to certain groups while others are left out.Fact: Affirmative Action is fair!Affirmative Action levels the playing field so people of color and all women have the chance to compete in education and in business. White men hold 95% to 97% of the high-level corporate jobs. And that's with affirmative action programs in place. Imagine how low figures would be without affirmative action. Of 3000 federal court decisions in discrimination cases between 1990 and 1994, only 100 involved claims of reverse discrimination; only 6 of those claims were found to be valid.Myth #2: Affirmative Action isn't necessary anymore because discriminationis illegal.Fact: Women and people of color still face discrimination. Despite the enormous gains made by the civil rights and women's rights movements, women and people of color still face unfair obstacles in business and education. An astonishing 70% of schools are not in compliance with Title IX, the Federal Equal Education Opportunity law. For every dollar earned by men, women on a whole earn 74 cents, African American women earn 63 cents and Latino women earn 57 cents. According to the Census Bureau, only 25% of all doctors and lawyers are women. Less than 1% of auto mechanics are women. And women are only 8.4% of engineers.Myth #3: Women-owned companies get fewer contracts because there aren'tvery many of them.Fact: Women-owned businesses don't get their fair share of government contracts.Less than 3% of federal contracts go to women-owned firms. In Washington, less than 10% of state contracts and purchasing dollars go to women-owned firms -- even though women own 39% of firms. Myth #4: Affirmative Action should be based on economic need. Fact: Affirmative Action is necessary so that women and people of color of every economic class have the opportunity to enter all fields. Women and people of color should, of course, have the chance to compete for jobs in th...
