What does equality mean?
Equality refers to the state of being equal, where everyone is treated in the same way and has the same rights, opportunities, and access to resources, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or other personal characteristics. Equality is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of democratic societies.
In practice, achieving equality requires eliminating discrimination and bias in all areas of life, including education, employment, healthcare, housing, and justice. It also involves creating policies and systems that promote equal opportunities for all, such as affirmative action programs or anti-discrimination laws.
Equality is often contrasted with equity, which focuses on ensuring that individuals have the resources and support they need to achieve equal outcomes, even if it means giving them different levels of support based on their starting point. While equality aims to treat everyone the same, equity aims to address the historical and systemic injustices that have created unequal starting points for different groups of people.
What does equity mean?
Equity can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Generally, equity refers to fairness or justice in the distribution of resources or opportunities.
In finance and business, equity refers to the ownership interest in a company. Equity can be in the form of stocks, shares or ownership stakes that represent a portion of the company’s value. Equity holders are entitled to a share of the profits and have voting rights to elect the board of directors.
In law, equity is a body of legal principles and remedies that are applied to achieve fairness in situations where strict application of the law may result in unjust outcomes. For example, in cases where monetary damages are inadequate to compensate a victim for a harm caused, a court may order equitable relief such as injunctions or specific performance.
In social and political contexts, equity refers to the elimination of systemic and institutional barriers that prevent certain groups of people from accessing opportunities or resources on an equal basis with others. It involves creating conditions where all people have the chance to thrive regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic status.
Equality Vs Equity?
Equality and equity are two concepts that are often discussed in the context of social justice and fairness. While they are related, they represent different approaches to addressing issues of inequality and discrimination.
Equality refers to the idea that everyone should be treated the same, regardless of their background or circumstances. This means that everyone should have equal access to opportunities and resources, and that they should be judged based on their own merits, rather than their identity or social status. For example, a society that values equality might strive to ensure that everyone has access to quality education, healthcare, and employment opportunities, regardless of their race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
Equity, on the other hand, recognizes that not everyone starts from the same place, and that treating everyone the same may not result in fair outcomes. Equity acknowledges that some individuals and groups face systemic barriers to achieving success, and that these barriers need to be addressed in order to create a level playing field. Equity means giving people the support and resources they need to succeed, even if that means giving them different levels of support based on their starting point. For example, a society that values equity might provide extra resources to schools in low-income areas to ensure that all students have access to quality education, or it might implement affirmative action programs to ensure that historically disadvantaged groups have access to employment opportunities.
The difference between equality and equity can be illustrated through a simple example. Imagine a group of people standing at a fence trying to watch a baseball game. If everyone is given the same size box to stand on, the taller people will still have an advantage, because they can see over the fence without any assistance. This represents an equal but not necessarily fair outcome. However, if the shorter people are given larger boxes to stand on, they will now have the same chance to see the game as the taller people. This represents an equitable outcome.
In practice, both equality and equity are important principles that can be used to promote social justice and fairness. However, they are often applied in different ways depending on the situation. For example, in cases where discrimination is clearly present, equity-based approaches may be more appropriate in order to address the root causes of the problem. In other cases, where everyone is starting from a relatively equal position, an equality-based approach may be more effective in ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities and resources.
My Take
It depends on the context we are talking about. We should have both equality and equity, they don’t need to be mutually exclusive. It is a continuum but in some cases we might not want to have either.
For example:
- STARTING: At the start we want equity. Some people who grow up in poorer neighbourhoods, have less access to educational opportunities. They may have suffered some trauma early in life that has effected them. Those problems needs to be addressed, because it provides a benefit for those people, and everyone. That’s equity.
- OPPORTUNITY: When people have the same opportunities, after we have reached equity, we want equality. So everyone has the same opportunities in their life, but beyond that, we don’t necessarily need equality, because we also want to develop the best.
- ELITE: Beyond a certain level, we want to give the best more resources to develop the elite. For example, in entertainment, the elite NBA, Politics, business leaders, or astronauts we might want to have the best basketball players and leaders that are possible. In those instances we actually want to give the more resources to the best people, so that they can improve the most and be even better. This is neither equality nor equity, but it does have the best outcome for everyone because everyone benefits from leaders and entertainers being more capable.
I think that most of the arguments related to equity, and equality are more about their application than about their meaning as principles. It is not about which one we want, but about at which point equity should stop and equality begin. Equity might be more important in some cases but less important in other cases. If equity should exist in all cases, then this means that if someone is less intelligent or less capable or hard working, they should always receive more support than someone who is more capable, so that everyone always has the same outcome. I think that they should sometimes receive more support, sometimes receive the same, and sometimes receive less support, depending on the situation. The overriding principle to decide should be 1) What is fair, but also, 2) What is better for society. It is obviously better for society if people from disadvantage have that disadvantage taken away so they can contribute more. It is also better for society if equality exists so that some people are motivated to work harder and laziness and free-riders are not rewarded, and it is also better for society if the elite receive elite training, so they can be even better and push and drive humanity forward, which could ultimately lead to a much better society and raise the rewards and benefits for all.
