Equity vs Equality - an infographic

[the_tortoise]

Many people seem to confuse equity and equality...

And many others believe "equality" is the only true fairness in all situations; While to them "equity" means "unfair special treatment advantage for some and not others".

So I thought I would post this infographic showing how in one (of many) situations, equity is actually more fair than equality...It is from this page:

Equity | Voice of Albertans with Disabilities (VAD)

 

[Judge]

True, they are terms easily misunderstood, apart from different circumstances dictating their meaning.

The first thing that comes to mind is economics. Where "equity" is so commonly connected to shareholders' interest in a publicly owned corporation. A scenario where controlling interest of shareholders can dictate outcomes that the majority of shareholders or corporate officers and directors may vehemently object to. Often involving a hostile takeover of sorts.

Nothing "fair" about that particular form of equity. But it (fairness) "looks good on paper" relative to the legal requirements of any corporate charter.

I'm also reminded of American civil procedure in a formal suit brought to a civil court of law. A process that doesn't depend on being just- or fair. Simply on a premise of which attorneys can sway a civil jury with a majority of votes in favor of a plaintiff or defendant. A matter of skill, cunning and persuasion- not fairness.

As well, the concept of "equality" (or egality) is more of a platitude than anything else. A goal for some, a curse to others. But either way a scenario that isn't likely to even exist in a body politic or specific type of economy. Particularly contrasting an ever-present sense of elitism and hierarchies found in virtually all body politics. As well, the potential for any democracy to experience the "tyranny of a political majority".

Take for instance the French Revolution. One with noble intentions, but one that became "a revolution that devoured its own children". From Louis XVI to Robespierre, to Napoleon.

 

[Dagan]

Oh, yeah. I've talked about this with people for a long time. I've never mentioned it on this forum, though, I don't think. Overall, I feel like fighting for equality is a mythical quest that will never be fulfilled. I can explain....

You have to accept the literal and figurative "ladder" to success to best understand when I claim that equality is a farce. Think of your place on said ladder - your rung, if you will. There are rungs above and below you, and there are people on said rungs. Think of each rung basically as a level of whatever class / wealth system - each rung equals a step in status. Okay. Now, just realize that is how everything in this world works, from just how you perceive yourself socially to how you seriously fit on the spectrum of power and wealth. It just absolutely is that way. It's factual, and there's no questioning it. Next is to understand that you almost always want to do better, have more, etc. meaning that you desire to move UP the ladder...moving up another rung or two or all the way to the top, perhaps. You have to then accept that you will be putting more people beneath you. But...even if you are content to whatever rung / place on the ladder you currently are...if you never desire to move up the ladder...it's a 99% chance that you fear moving DOWN. It's the utmost likelihood that you will do whatever it takes to never move down the ladder because you don't want less / lesser status / fewer options or less wealth, etc. You don't want to lose your status.

All of this proves that practically no one (maybe there are some, but there's not many people at all) seeks equality for everyone across the board. If people truly did want equality, then every single day they'd not prove otherwise trying to gain more and/or doing whatever it takes to have less.

Equity is what people truly want and should fight towards.

 

[the_tortoise]

Yes, the conceptual problems here are many and hard to concisely describe, but it strikes me that one of them is:

Both "equity" and "equality" are fundamentally about quantities and fairly or very straightforward math.

It's fundamentally similar to (might be fair to say "is the same as" -- not certain) the problem you run into with the word "normal"...

"Normal" is also about quantities, a math word, taken from statistics and warped into the huge, association-based, light-years-distance-abstracted multi-headed monstrosity of a social category that is used to describe so many symbolic variables, so many dimensions that to think of every possible definition in every possible context probably exceeds the mental capacity of the most genius abstract thinker on earth.

Equality applied to human beings, or the situations and systems we create -- it's hard to pin down...with few exceptions it ends up being arbitrary and is truly impossible/meaningless because it attempts to describe too many things only by way of conflation and over-simplification of nearly infinite variables -- tries to squish them into one single thing that is supposed to translate into universally equal power birth to death (social status and wealth being types of power).

Equitable/equity is still a sort of ill-fitting numbers word but it acknowledges uneven pieces (or even pieces, but either even or uneven distribution) of a complex whole and the distribution of those pieces even in its most literal original maths/numbers/economics defintion....this makes at least some room for the reality of all the variables involved in power distribution. It is a more closely fitting metaphor for the process of giving everyone a fair chance at similar competitive advantage, similar experience, similar quality of life -- while still acknowledging the undeniable reality of literal inequality across all the variables of human existence for any given individual in any given circumstance.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I'm sorry, I cannot walk this road with you. This is leftist, democratic socialist propaganda. I live in a city burned out by antifa. And this city is a common place for refugees to settle. I have heard first hand accounts of the horrors of socialism over the years, and seen the effects of peaceful protests that very quickly turned my utopia into a burned out shell that still has yet to recover. The city council meetings to this day are full of protestors every week, who shout at anything they deem hate speech, taking down names and doxing individuals. It's sickness. And any chance we have at recovery is smashed because of "equity" that keeps all of us equally destitute and empty of any promise of recovery.