Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, January 21, 2025,  90 Federal Register 8633 (Full Document)."This article was drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model. All content has been reviewed and edited by Vernellia Randall to ensure accuracy and coherence."

 

 

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Summary:

This executive order prohibits using affirmative action and DEI-based hiring criteria in federal contracting. Specifically, it:

  1. Bans race-conscious hiring and recruitment policies for companies contracting with the federal government.
  2. Revokes key provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) order 1965, which required affirmative action to ensure fair hiring for racial minorities and women.
  3. Mandates federal agencies to investigate companies using DEI hiring policies and potentially penalize those considering race, gender, or ethnicity as factors in recruitment and promotion.
  4. Eliminates diversity-related benchmarks for federal contracts, removing previous incentives for hiring underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

The order claims to restore "merit-based" hiring practices by eliminating race-conscious policies in employment and contracting, arguing that such measures constitute "illegal discrimination" and undermine equal opportunity.

 

Impact on Racial Justice:

🔴 General Impact: This order represents a significant rollback of affirmative action in federal hiring and contracting, reversing decades of policy that sought to counteract systemic discrimination in employment.

  1. Affirmative action was originally implemented to address racial discrimination in hiring and to ensure that historically marginalized groups had access to employment opportunities. By revoking these policies, the administration removes a key mechanism for counteracting racial bias in the job market.
  2. Workplace diversity efforts will likely decline as federal contractors no longer have incentives or requirements to create inclusive hiring practices.
  3. The language of the order frames affirmative action as discriminatory, ignoring historical and ongoing barriers that minorities face in the workforce.

Without affirmative action policies, racial disparities in employment and federal contracting are likely to widen, as racial bias—both implicit and explicit—remains a factor in hiring and promotion decisions. This widening gap could lead to significant economic disparities, further exacerbating the financial challenges faced by racial minorities.

 

Impact on Racial Minorities:

🔴 Black and Latino Communities:

  1. Decreased Job Access: Black and Latino workers have historically faced hiring discrimination, with studies showing that resumes with "ethnic-sounding" names receive fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names. Without affirmative action, such biases could persist without accountability.
  2. Fewer Opportunities for Promotion: The order could disproportionately impact Black and Latino professionals trying to move into leadership roles, as diversity-focused hiring and promotion programs will likely be abandoned.
  3. Reduced Business Opportunities: Many Black- and Latino-owned businesses benefit from federal supplier diversity programs prioritizing awarding contracts to minority-owned firms. Without these considerations, these businesses may struggle to compete for federal contracts.

🔴 Indigenous Communities:

  1. Limited Federal Support for Indigenous-Owned Businesses: Native American businesses have benefited from federal contract set-asides designed to address historical economic disadvantages. With these provisions eliminated, Indigenous entrepreneurs may face more significant economic barriers.

🔴 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities:

Potential for Decreased Representation in Government Contracting: Asian American business owners, particularly those in minority-heavy industries like tech and small business entrepreneurship, may experience a decline in federal contracting opportunities. This could significantly reduce the representation of AAPI communities in government contracting, further marginalizing these groups.

🔴 Women of Color:

  1. Loss of Gender-Based Affirmative Action Protections: Many affirmative action policies also considered gender, ensuring that women of color—who face compounded discrimination due to race and gender—had equitable opportunities in hiring and promotion. The elimination of these protections may disproportionately affect women of color in male-dominated fields such as STEM, law, and corporate leadership.

Conclusion:

📌 This executive order fundamentally shifts federal hiring and contracting policies, removing safeguards to ensure racial diversity and equity.

📌 By eliminating affirmative action and DEI policies in federal contracts, the order assumes that racial disparities in hiring no longer exist—despite decades of evidence showing that systemic barriers continue to limit access to employment and economic opportunity for racial minorities.

📌 Without proactive diversity measures, workplace discrimination may go unchecked, and racial minorities may face greater challenges in securing jobs and government contracts.

This order marks a significant setback for racial justice, reinforcing the barriers that affirmative action was designed to dismantle. It also sends a clear message to private employers that diversity initiatives may be legally risky, potentially discouraging companies from investing in workplace inclusion efforts. The long-term effect is likely to be increased racial economic disparities and decreased representation of minorities in federal employment and contracting.