Legal Regulation of Affirmative Action in Northern Ireland: An Empirical Assessment

Posted: 26 Jul 2004

See all articles by Christopher McCrudden

Christopher McCrudden

Queen's University Belfast - School of Law; University of Michigan Law School; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Robert Ford

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology

Anthony Heath

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology

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Abstract

We address the question of the effectiveness of affirmative action agreements concluded by a regulatory body with employers in order to achieve greater equality in employment. We analyse the pattern of affirmative action agreements concluded by the Fair Employment Commission with employers in Northern Ireland between 1990 and 2000. We examine the association between these agreements and changes occurring in the religio-political composition of these employer's workforces during that period, based on a statistical analysis of monitoring data collected by the Commission from employers, compared with employers that did not enter into such agreements. We find that firms reaching agreements with the Commission demonstrated significant evidence of change over the decade. We conclude that such agreements were likely to have been an integral part of the processes driving change in the Northern Ireland labour market in the 1990s.

Keywords: Northern Ireland, affirmative action, empirical assessments, regulation, regulatory agencies, employment, discrimination, equality

JEL Classification: K23, K31

Suggested Citation

McCrudden, Christopher and Ford, Robert and Heath, Anthony, Legal Regulation of Affirmative Action in Northern Ireland: An Empirical Assessment. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=568622

Christopher McCrudden (Contact Author)

Queen's University Belfast - School of Law ( email )

School of Law
Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland BT7 1NN
United Kingdom

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

625 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

Robert Ford

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology ( email )

Suite 8
Littlegate House, St. Ebbes Street
Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 1PT
United Kingdom

Anthony Heath

University of Oxford - Department of Sociology ( email )

Suite 8
Littlegate House
Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 1PT
United Kingdom

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