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OxHRH

Reverse racism is coming: the backlash against race conscious politics in contemporary Brazil

Isis Conceicao - 9th March 2020

Affirmative Action| Equality and Non-Discrimination

In February 2020, Brazil witnessed two judicial decisions that indicate backlash efforts against race informed affirmative action policy. In one case, the Superior Court of Justice, the highest appellate court in Brazil for non-constitutional questions of federal law, decided that Sergio Camargo, nominated on 27 November 2019 as president of the Fundação Cultural Palmares (Palmares […]

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OxHRH

A duty to implement affirmative action/reservations for India and South Africa?

Nomfundo Ramalekana - 28th February 2020

Affirmative Action

A recent Indian Supreme Court judgement, Mukesh Kumar & Another v State of Uttarakhand & Others, held that there is no right to affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution. Reiterating previous findings, the court held that the power to take affirmative action measures under Article 16(4) is merely permissive. This judgment, and […]

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OxHRH

The Future Could Be Accessible, But Only If All Disability Shortlists Are Made Legal

Marie Tidball - 5th December 2019

Affirmative Action

Tuesday 3 December marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD), but with  only one week to go until the UK General Election, the prospects of sufficient Members of Parliament with disabilities being elected looks dismal. The theme of the 2019 IDPWD is ‘The Future is Accessible’, examining what barriers need to be removed to enable […]

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OxHRH

How the Harvard Affirmative Action Case Became a ‘Battle of Economists’

Yuvraj Joshi - 6th December 2018

Affirmative Action

The lawsuit over Harvard College’s affirmative action program has been called a ‘battle of economists.’  The economist for Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an anti-affirmative-action organization, argues that Harvard’s admissions practices have “disproportionately negative effect on Asian Americans” compared to white applicants.  The economist for Harvard disputes SFFA’s selective reliance on available data and points […]

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OxHRH

Affirmative Action in South Africa: The Urgency of Accounting for Historically Entrenched White Privilege and Power

Nomfundo Ramalekana - 13th July 2018

Affirmative Action| Equality and Non-Discrimination

In a recent judgement by the South African Constitutional Court, Minister of Constitutional Development v South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association, the court struck down an affirmative action policy, holding that it violated the right to equality, was arbitrary and irrational. This finding falls short of the standard of substantive equality in its failure […]

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OxHRH

Not There Yet and Running Against the Clock: The New Ordinance Regulating Racial Classification for Racial Quotas in Brazil

Isis Conceicao - 31st May 2018

Affirmative Action| Equality and Non-Discrimination

On April 10th, regulatory ordinance no. 4 was signed by the Human Resource Management of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management in Brazil. The ordinance regulates the procedure of complementary heteroidentification, an external racial identification process by using phenotypic criteria. In Brazil, candidates for office can declare themselves as black for purposes of filling […]

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OxHRH

India’s ‘One Woman Quota’ on Board of Directors Fails to Bring About Gender Equality

Ayushi Agarwal - 28th February 2018

Affirmative Action

India’s law mandating quotas for women on the board of directors allows scope for tokenism, doesn’t facilitate retention of women and falls short of the required “critical mass”. It has therefore failed to achieve its desired objective.  Much has been written about the need for and consequences of boardroom gender diversity. Many differences have been […]

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