Positive action

In Europe, positive action, roughly synonymous with affirmative action, is the promotion of people based on belonging to non majority identity groups in the workplace, educational institutions and positions in society, purportedly without prejudicing the criteria of selection by merit. In the United Kingdom in Harriet Harman's Equality Act 2010 ss 158-159, the term is used in the context of employment to allow selection of a candidate from an "under-represented" group, so long as he or she is no less than equally qualified compared to another potential candidate that is not from the under-represented group.