Equity or equality?
Equity, as part of the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” triad, started to be popularly mentioned around June 2020 after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 (Google Trends, n.d.). In recent years, equity has become a guiding principle for the Democratic Party, and was implemented in one of Biden’s first policies as president to develop an Equity Action Plan every year by “advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government” (Prokop, 2023). The difference between equity and equality, as well as the reasons some people support equity, while others choose equality, will be discussed in this essay.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, equality is “the right of different groups of people to have a similar social position and receive the same treatment”, while equity is “the situation in which everyone is treated fairly according to their needs and no group of people is given special treatment” (n.d.). Although the definition might be similar, the implementation of equality and equity is different.
One of the most popular images that describe the differences between these two terms is the image of three children of different heights standing behind a fence watching baseball. In the picture depicting equality, three children stand on three wooden crates of equal height, while in the picture of equity, the shortest child gets the most wooden crates so that all three children can watch the match. Perhaps this is also the common understanding of these two concepts. Equality emphasizes similarity in resources and opportunities, while equity emphasizes similarity in results. There are also a few other popular images describing these two terms, including a picture of two children climbing a ladder to pick fruits.
Equality has long been a value that humans have always strived for, and is conveyed in the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Draft Committee, 1948). Equality is important as it affects social and economic development in general, and affects people’s self-worth in particular. In the tenth sustainable development goal Reduced Inequality, the United Nations also states that “We cannot achieve sustainable development if we exclude any part of the world’s population” (n.d.). For equality supporters, equality is more desirable than equity as firstly, tailoring the levels of support for each individual would consume too many resources. Taking an exam, for example, equity will require the examination board to provide support based on each person’s abilities. Smarter people may have to take the test in less time or do more questions, while weaker students will have more time, or be given simpler tests. Besides, equity will also make people become more dependent. Taking the exam example above, being facilitated may cause weak learners to rely on the assistance provided by the examination board, thereby not trying their best. Equity, as Sowell said in his speech about cosmic justice, is “the thief of human potential” (xokelis00, 2015).
On the other hand, those who support equity often consider equity as a more improved and advanced version of equality (Mlaba, 2021; The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2023; The difference between equality and equity is everything, n.d.). For them, the biggest reason that makes equity better than equality is that each person has different abilities, background, and resources, and therefore needs to be provided with different levels of support and different opportunities. In the same exam example above, there might be people who have disabilities, and need to receive special support while others do not need it. If equality is applied, in order for an amputee to be able to take the exam, everyone will have a writing assistant next to them, which is highly unnecessary. Besides, equality will lead to unequal results. It will help smart people get better results in exams, but it will also give rich people resources to make them richer.
One issue that needs to be mentioned is that both equality and equity are aimed at an equal something. So how is inequality determined in the first place? In the Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, underserved communities include “Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious distress; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise disturbingly affected by persistent poverty or inequality” (Biden, 2021). Inequality among groups of people is based first on race, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality, then on disabilities, place of residence, and economic status. However, in reality, different environments may have different groups of disadvantaged people. According to Sliwa, Asian Americans are often not the subject of research articles, and are the subject of discrimination in the US (2021). However, they are also an overrepresented group at elite universities in the US (Kaur, 2022). It can be seen that a group may not be disadvantageous in one environment, but undeserved in another environment.
Even though equity provides different levels of support and different opportunities for people with different abilities, backgrounds, and resources, it seems like that is still not enough right now. However, equity also requires too many resources. The best solution is perhaps to implement equity in small-scale environments, while practicing equality in larger environments. Thus, each individual will have access to basic and necessary resources, while in different environments, different groups of disadvantaged people will enjoy different levels of support.
To summarize, although Sowell stated that equity and equality cannot be achieved at the same time, their underlying goal is still the same, which is to make a better world. While equality provides necessary conditions, equity provides sufficient conditions to realize this goal.
References
Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2023). Equity vs. Equality: Differences & Examples. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.aecf.org/blog/equity-vs-equality
Biden, J. R. (2021). Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The White House. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/
Diversity equity and inclusion. (n.d.). Google Trends. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%22diversity%20equity%20and%20inclusion%22&hl=en
The difference between equality and equity is everything. (n.d.). ASU Graduate College. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://graduate.asu.edu/graduate-insider/difference-between-equality-and-equity-everything
Equality. (n.d.). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/equality
Equity. (n.d.). Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/equity
Kaur, H. (2022). How Asian Americans fit into the affirmative action debate. CNN. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/03/us/affirmative-action-asian-americans-qa-cec/index.html
Mlaba, K. (2021). Equity vs Equality: What’s the Difference? Global Citizen. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/equity-equality-whats-the-difference-global-goals/?gclid=CjwKCAiA-vOsBhAAEiwAIWR0Tbd69DJR3toR7M_kqBxCXVSiWr8g7Hn0u64Lx5pmMkszjXjLA_nZURoC2PMQAvD_BwE
Prokop, A. (2023). What is equity in DEI? The equity vs equality debate, explained. Vox. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/4/23644810/equity-social-justice-equality-sanders-biden
Sliwa, J. (2021). Asian Americans: Model or marginalized minority? American Psychological Association. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/08/asian-americans-model-marginalized
United Nations. (n.d.). Reduce inequality within and among countries — United Nations Sustainable Development. United Nations. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/
United Nations. (n.d.). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. Retrieved January 10, 2024, from https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
xokelis00. (2015). Thomas Sowell — The Quest for Cosmic Justice (Full Video) [Video]. Retrieved January 10, 2024m from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDMVdEci4Q&t=14s
