Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to give equal access to an environment or benefits, such as education, employment, health care, or social welfare to all, often with emphasis on members of various social groups which might have at some time suffered from discrimination. This can involve the hiring of workers and other such practices. Social groupings generally emphasized in such a way are those delineated by aspects of gender, race, or religion. Environment - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, good judgement and wisdom. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Health care or healthcare is one of the worlds largest and fastest growing professions. ... Social welfare can be taken to mean the welfare or well-being of a society. ... To discriminate is to make a distinction. ... This article is about sex, meaning the different sexes; male, female, etc. ... This article is about race as an intraspecies classification. ... Religion, a term sometimes used interchangeably with faith, is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices and institutions associated with such belief. ...

Equal opportunity practices that are race-blind or gender-blind may be distinguished from practices that involve or require affirmative action or reverse discrimination. The United States federal government and various state and local governments require affirmative action in terms of governmental hiring and contracting; many other countries make such action illegal. Race-blind is a term describing activities undertaken and services provided without regard to the racial characteristics of those who participate in an activity or receive a service. ... Gender-blind (or unisex) is a term describing activities undertaken and services provided without regard to the sex of those who participate. ... Affirmative action ( US English), or positive discrimination ( British English), is a policy or a program providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society. ... Reverse discrimination is a colloquial term used to describe discriminatory policies or acts that benefit a historically sociopolitically nondominant group (typically minorities), rather than the historically sociopolitically dominant group. ... The government of the United States, established by the United States Constitution, is a federal republic of 50 states, a few territories and some protectorates. ... Local governments are administrative offices of an area smaller than a state. ...

The method of providing equal opportunity, and the likelihood that such a state of equality is impossible are aspects of the controversial nature of the concept of "Equal opportunity".

See also

• Universal access
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (US)
• Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (US)
• Equal Opportuinity (New Brunswick)

Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their background or physical disabilities. ... External link: Official site Categories: Stub | United States federal agencies ... The Equal Opportunity program in the Canadian province of New Brunswick was created to ensure equal services would be provided to citizens in all parts of the province regardless of the wealth in the area. ...

External links

• Australia
  • Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (http://www.hreoc.gov.au/)
• United Kingdom
  • The Equal Opportunities Commission (gender equality) (http://www.eoc.org.uk/)
  • UK Governmen Women & Equality Unit (http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/)
  • The Commission for Racial Equality (racial equality) (http://www.cre.gov.uk/)
  • Disability Rights Commission (disablement equality) (http://www.drc-gb.org/)
• United States
  • NAFEO - National Association For Equal Opportunity In Higher Education (US) (http://www.nafeo.org/)
  • Department of the Interior Office for Equal Opportunity (US) (http://www.doi.gov/diversity/)
  • Center for Equal Opportunity (US) (http://www.ceousa.org/)
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Equality of Opportunity (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-opportunity/)