The principle of affirmative action has had a long history in the United States, where minorities, women, and the physically and mentally disabled have been assured protections when it comes to education, employment and positions in the civil service. However, in 1996, equal rights advocates in California proposed Proposition 209, which limited California's public institutions from using race, gender, or ethnicity to offer "preferential" protections.
儘管美國很早就有「平權措施」理念，也就是讓少數族裔、女性、身心障礙者等弱勢族群在入學、就業和謀公職上受到優先保障，但 1996 年加州平權團體卻反向提出了「209 號提案」，限制加州公立機構以族裔、性別、人種等理由，作出「偏頗」保護。