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affirmative action refers to policies that take "race, color, religion, sex or national origin"[1] into consideration. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and education to public contracting and health programs. “Affirmative action” is action taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded.[2]
The term affirmative action originated in the United States in President John F. Kennedy's Executive Order 10925. Matching procedures in other countries are also known as reservation in India, positive discrimination in the United Kingdom and employment equity in Canada.