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Equality vs. Equity

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Equality or Fakequity

Equality means that everyone gets the same treatment, the same chances, the same resources... The ultimate goal is sameness

  • But maybe one is not equipped to take advantage of the “things” offered?

Equal treatment does not always produce an equitable result, as we all start from different points on the track. These differences are not solely individual, but are related to categories of privilege and marginalization

  • Equality ignores the huge differences in resources and treatment that already exist in society

Access alone does nothing to shift systemic power imbalances. In fact, when we focus on access as our primary goal, we may in fact reinforce existing power structures 

  • Hope for everyone to be treated equally, but often working toward such equality blinds us to the very obstacles that keep it out of reach—inequities

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“One person had one-eight billionth of the power that humanity had. �This assumes everyone had an equal amount of power, which wasn’t true…”

– Kim Stanley Robinson, “The Ministry for the Future”

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Equity

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  • Equity means that everyone gets what they need to succeed.
    • The ultimate goal is justice or fairness

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  • WHO “Equity is the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically”
    • Equity is a process and equality is an outcome of that process

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Diversity sometimes means just to check the box

Inclusion:

  • Acknowledge diversity
  • And respect it
  • Educate everyone
  • “Inclusions starts with I”

Inclusion promotes belonging, purpose and wellbeing

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And how about inclusion?

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”�“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.�“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

– Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

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Questions

  • Do we question ourselves enough about “what do I do to be more inclusive”?
  • How to react to and “correct” discriminative talk and behaviour, among friends, family, colleagues

"Our thinking was limited by convention (the most subtle but oppressive dictator). Please forgive our lack of imagination.“

– Pip Williams, “The Dictionary of Lost Words”