Equity versus Equality – is the difference really that important?

I’m sure some of you out there are thinking, "What's the big deal? Equality, equity, tomato, tomahto." But it's important to understand the difference between the two. Let me expand….

Equality = Sameness

Equality is where everyone has access to the same resources and opportunities. For example, men and women both, can be pilots, engineers, mechanics, nurses or child care workers. They all have the same right to apply for that job.

Equity = Fairness

Equity is adjusting the levels of access to those same opportunities and resources so they are fair for what the person needs. This is done by recognising and acknowledging that not everyone starts from the same place, so adjustments need to be made to allow for imbalances. For example, mandating certain numbers of women be considered for the job, seems like the women are getting more than the men, but this is just an attempt to increase fairness because women face greater recruitment obstacles which prevent them from getting on the shortlist in the first place. If women aren’t given the extra support to be considered for the job, they struggle to even get access to that ‘equal’ opportunity.

It's no different to providing extra support for a visually impaired person, or a differently-abled person. They should have access to opportunities at work, like everyone else, but they will need extra support along the way to do their job at the same level as everyone else. This is not unfair to fully sighted or able-bodied people. They are not getting less because the other group are getting more. It’s about both groups getting the right amount to do their job. It’s about levelling the playing field so one group no longer has an advantage over another.

Case in point:

I saw a post on LinkedIn recently about a beautiful new office building with lots of glass, including a fully transparent, glass stair case.

Think about it….

Do you see the problem?

Everyone has equal access to the stairs (equality- tick) but women wearing dresses need something more, before they can confidently use them (equity – cross!).

Women need covered stairs, not see through ones. Women need to feel safe to use the stairs regardless of their attire. Different resources applied to the same opportunity, turns it from equal to equitable, from same to fair.

I know the stair example feels like a light topic, but it’s the little things that often signal the intractable issues. It’s the little things we need to catch before they become big things. We need to ask - how did this happen? Who was in the room when the decision was made? What conversations were had? How did this make it to the build phase?

Focusing solely on equality misses the point. Who cares if everyone can use the pantry, if only some of us can reach the higher shelves?

We have to go back to the hierarchy of ideas that holds this work together.

Equality is the aim.

Equity is the approach.

At this stage in the conversation, we can all agree that we are on board with equality. That everyone should have equal access to opportunities. And now it’s time to interrogate how we get there. 

It’s time to embrace the awkwardness of equity – of ‘favouring’ one group over another (adjusting for equity) in service of true equality. We have to get comfortable in the discomfort of targets and quotas, and women receiving ‘positive discrimination’, and see it for what it is; not a ‘leg up’ over the competition, but a ‘leg up’ to get alongside the competition - to get into the game of work. 

And who knows, maybe one day we'll move past equity and onto humanity. But until then, let's keep fighting for fairness, and play a game where everyone can win, or at least where no one has to fake a sprained ankle to avoid those glass stairs.