affirmative action

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun a policy of making active efforts to improve the employment or educational opportunities available to members of minority groups or women; -- achieved by employers or schools by using various techniques, but excluding the use of simple quotas or outright discrimination against white males.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A policy or program providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society through preferential access to education, employment, health care, social welfare, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities