In education, affirmative action may include grants and graduate fellowship programs aimed at helping women and people of color move into fields where their participation has been discouraged. Affirmative action is not about preferences or quotas. Affirmative action means considering the race or gender of qualified candidates as just one of the many factors that determine merit. A person's merit is more than just a test score. It includes experience, character, obstacles overcome and a wide range of abilities.
Affirmative action enlarges the pool of qualified applicants to give everyone a fair chance.
Quotas are illegal. An employer can set goals, not quotas.