Equity vs Equality: which one is the best?

Women and men are not equal. It’s a common misconception that because women and men can compete for the same jobs, negotiate for similar pay and attain the same levels of education that we must be equal. It’s not true, we aren’t EQUAL because EQUALITY isn’t always EQUITABLE.

Equality focuses on creating the same starting line for everyone. Equity has the goal of providing everyone with the full range of opportunities and benefits – the same finish line.

The goal of treating everyone the same way is noble and something we applaud, but it ignores the fact that people tend to differ in their abilities, resources and experiences. Those differences tend to actually become barriers; when we ignore the barriers, we end up promoting privilege. What we don’t do is solve the societal issues that have created such inequality – we feed into it.

Focusing on equity means that we recognize the system in place is leaving many behind and we actively dedicated resources to ensure everyone can catch up and succeed at the same level, barrier free.

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