|
2005 >> Sex Equality and "Positive Discrimination" : Comparative Legal Analysis >> SUMMARIES
" Sex Equality and "Positive Discrimination" : Comparative Legal Analysis "
(Co-organized by the Gender Law and Policy Center and the Society of Comparative Legislation)
SUMMARIES
The notions of "positive action", "affirmative action" and "positive discrimination" A comparative legal approach
Professor Miyoko TSUJIMURA
(Tohoku University)
Various expressions are now used to describe those measures specially designated to promote equality de facto : "temporary special measures" in international law, "positive action" (or "action positive") in European law, "affirmative action" in the United States, or "discrimination positive" as increasingly called in France. The question is then to know if we are really talking - here and there - about the same thing… To this regard, the French expression of "discrimination positive", contradictory in itself, remains problematic. The Japanese government, wishing to avoid any controversy, has finally chosen the more neutral expression of "positive action".
The problem of terminology apart, another problem arises: what is the goal aimed by such measures? Is it simply equality before the law, or de facto equality, equality of chances or equality of results?
On this basis, it could be possible then to try to classify the various measures grouped under the general term of "positive action", and to identify those which require a specific control of constitutionality.
|
