[true_religion]

I think what's getting lost in this discussion is that Affirmative Action isn't a trigger for "hire a woman over the more qualified man".

All it mandates is that if on paper two candidates are equal scores, your process should pick the female/minority candidate. Historically, if you left it up to people in the organisation they'd go with their "gut" feelings and pick whomever was of a similar background to them.

If two candidates aren't equal, you always pick the better candidate.

[discombobulate]

That's mandated discrimination.

[selllikesybok]

Not in the sense of the word that you seem likely to be using, no.

[discombobulate]

I checked the definition of the words before I posted.

Please, enlighten me?