Equality vs. Equity: Same Shoes, Different Feet

Equality and equity might sound alike but in practice are quite different. Equality is giving everyone the same thing, same shoes, same size, same color, whether or not they wear a size 6 or size 9 shoe.  Equity is making sure everyone actually gets what they need- shoes that fit.

Picture the famous Equality/Equity fence scene. Three people are standing in front of a fence trying to watch a high school baseball game. Not everyone can see over the fence. Equality says, “Here, everyone gets the same number of boxes.” Now, the tall person can clearly see the game; the medium person squints and stands on their toes and the shortest person admires the fence grain. Equity says, “We’re giving each person the number of boxes that they need to see over the fence.” The tall person gets nothing, the medium sized person gets one box and the shortest person gets two boxes. Suddenly, everyone sees the home run and no one gets splinters.

If you want a workplace example, equality would be giving every new hire the identical orientation packet and assigning them the same duties regardless of experience or resources. Equity notices that Jennifer is vision-impaired and provides accessible materials and Jason is remote in a different time zone, so there’s an alternate session.

But isn’t equity favoritism? Think of it like this-you’d think the optometrist was insane if they prescribed the same lenses to everyone, but that would be true equality. Equity is providing the eyeglass prescription that enables each person to see clearly. We don’t say, “For fairness, everyone gets the same prescription!”

Aim for a world where we all see over the fence, not because we’re the same height, but because we are smart enough to allocate the boxes according to the height of each person.