It is unlawful to establish quotas and meet quotas solely based on the race or sex of the applicant in any affirmative action program. Employers and schools are required to set goals and timelines for hiring or recruiting women and minorities to achieve racial diversity. Due to the underrepresentation of African Americans, women, and minorities, affirmative action was created. It was created to ensure the inclusion of all qualified people and to prevent racial and gender discrimination. An employer is not required to hire an individual who does not have the necessary qualifications to perform the job successfully in an effort to achieve its objectives, or to choose one who is less qualified than another based on race or sex. There are no legal sanctions for either employers or schools if targets are not met, as long as efforts and good faith have been made to achieve them. There is a misconception that some may think that people of African descent, women and minorities are given preferences in the name of these policies and that is not true. African Americans, women, and minorities all have the right to receive the opportunity to engage in higher education and occupations that were once denied to them." Affirmative action was first established in the order Executive 10925, signed by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961, required government contractors "not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin" and to " take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are hired and that employees are treated in employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin" (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Board). Lyndon B. Johnson reinstated at.. . half of the paper ... quotas are a necessity in order to include equal opportunity and racial diversity in employment and educational institutions. Works Cited Executive Order 10925 - Establishment of the Presidential Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity." U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved 2/5/2010. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965. Volume II, entry 301, pp. 635-640. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966.Stolovitch, Dara Z. 2007. Affirmative Defense: Race, Class, and Gender in Interest Group Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress. Investing in Women, Investing in America: A Comprehensive Analysis of Women in the U.S. Economy. Washington, DC, December 2010, p.80.http://jec.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=9118a9ef-0771-4777-9c1f-8232fe70a45c