<P> The ideal of a society in which people do not suffer disadvantage from discrimination on grounds of supposed race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation is widely upheld as desirable in itself . </P> <P> It is a relatively straightforward task for legislators to ban blatant efforts to favor one group over another and encourage equality of opportunity as a result . Japan banned gender - specific job descriptions in advertising as well as sexual discrimination in employment as well as other practices deemed unfair, although a subsequent report suggested that the law was having minimal effect in securing Japanese women high positions in management . In the United States, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a private test preparation firm, Kaplan, for unfairly using credit histories to discriminate against African Americans in terms of hiring decisions . According to one analysis, it is possible to imagine a democracy which meets the formal criteria (1 through 3) but which still favors wealthy candidates who are selected in free and fair elections . </P> <P> "If higher inequality makes intergenerational mobility more difficult, it is likely because opportunities for economic advancement are more unequally distributed among children ." </P> <P> This term, sometimes called fair equality of opportunity, is a somewhat broader and more expansive concept than the more limiting formal equality of opportunity and it deals with what is sometimes described as indirect discrimination . It goes farther, and is more controversial than the formal variant, and has been thought to be much harder to achieve, with greater disagreement about how to achieve greater equality, and has been described as "unstable", particularly if the society in question is unequal to begin with in terms of great disparity of wealth . It has been identified as more of a left - leaning political position but this is not a hard - and - fast rule . The substantive model is advocated by people who see limitations in the formal model: </P>

Issues as regard the different equal employment opportunities