Difference between EQUALITY and EQUITY

A reflection that has always been under the sign of philosophical thought, and later economic, is the subtle, but very important difference between equity and equality. Two concepts that are not antilogues, but neither are they synonymous. It is often thought that they have the same meaning and, therefore, people tend to confuse them. Even so, they are different concepts with different implications at the sociopolitical level.

Both concepts are dimensions of social justice. In this Psychology-Online article, we will delve into the difference between equality andequity. We will see the definitions of each term and examples of them in everyday life.

Index

1. What is equality
2. What is equity
3. Differences between equality and equity

In general, equality is understood as the equality of human and individual rights, a condition for which each person is considered equal to the others in any contextregardless of their social position and origin. Indeed, from the principle of equality derives the recognition and respect of our fundamental rights. These correspond equally to every person.

Equality was one of the fundamental principles claimed by the French Revolution, at the end of World War II and in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 affirms that this is true regardless of sex, ethnicity, culture, religion, etc. So that there would be no misunderstandings regarding the differences that exist between people and peoples to world level, in 1975 the right to difference was also affirmed to recognize the same for all dignity.

It is clear to all of us that, from a legal point of view, We are all equal before the law. It is the condition by which each individual or group must be considered as equal to all others, especially in political, social and economic rights. We demand equal treatment for all.

In international law, we talk about equality of states, situation in which states are as members of the international community, that is, as members of a perfectly parity society, as independent sovereign entities one of the others. In general, constitutions contain norms that refer to the supreme value of human dignity.

Examples of equality

Next, we will see some examples of equality that are very present in social movements that defend human rights.

• Gender equality: defends that men and women have the same rights. That gender is not an obstacle to having the same opportunities.
• Equality of social: refers to each individual having the same economic, legal and political rights.

Equity is the ability, taking into account similarities and differences, to make a decision unrelated to the application of an abstract and conscientious norm. This is called a judgment according to fairness.

In this sense, equity is based on the assumption that rigid application of abstract law to all possible real-life cases leads to injustices. For this reason, under certain conditions, the legislator allows the judge to create and apply an ad hoc rule. Therefore, the doctrine speaks of equity as "justice of the individual case" or, better said, "rule of judgment of the individual case".

Theory of social exchange

According to George Homans' sociological theory of social exchange postulated in 1974, collective rewards are highest when social actors adopt the principle of equity. For this reason, equity becomes the legitimate standard of justice.

In this theory it is postulated that equity is the balance between the inputs and outputs of ego and alter in a social exchange. The relationship is fair at the moment when the relationship of inputs Y outputs of the ego is equal to the relation of the alter. In other words, for there to be fairness, they must not only gain mutual benefit from the relationship, but also obtain rewards exactly proportional to the investment that each one has made in the report.

In this article, you will see another equity and reinforcement theory postulated by John Stacey Adams in 1963.

Examples of equity

To better understand what equity is, let's look at some examples where this concept is applied:

• Gender equality: gender equity complements the term gender equality. This specifically focuses on women as the discriminated gender. Therefore, it grants them preferential treatment. Gender equity is achieved when the opportunities for women to have the same jobs as men and the same political, economic and social visibility are facilitated. Find more information in this article about the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in public policies.
• Social equity: refers to the actions that are carried out to guarantee that all people enjoy the same opportunities, even if their circumstances are different. Get people with fewer resources to exercise their rights because having them does not mean being able to exercise them.

In this section we will see the differences between equality and equity. As we have seen before, they are terms related to each other, but they are not the same.

The case of the athletics race

To understand the difference between equality and equity, a small but significant example would suffice. Consider for a moment runners running on a lightweight running track during a 400-meter race competition. If you look at the starting grid, the athletes are not perfectly parallel. The concept of equality wants us to treat runners exactly the same, making sure they all start at the same point on the track.

On the surface, this seems fair. But we know that inside corridor corridors have a distinct advantage over outside corridor corridors because the distance they must travel is shorter. Therefore, equality, from the same point, does not translate into equity.

The concept of fairness, on the contrary, leads to staggering the starting positions of the corridors to compensate for the disadvantages they must face compared to those of the outer lanes. In this case, a different or tailored treatment is a safer path to fairness and justice.

Main differences between equality and equity

Next, we will see what are the most important differences between equality and equity:

• The principle of equity uses individual contributions as the main criterion for distributing resources. The principle of equality appeals to absolute equality between individuals on the level of dignity, not of contributions.
• Fairness in the way individuals are treated is called fairness. Equality is what we call the state where everyone is on the same level.
• Equity is a process, while equality is the result. Definitely, equity is the necessary condition to achieve equality.
• While equity represents fairness, that is, the distribution that is done in such a way to create opportunities for all people. Instead, equality indicates uniformity, where everything is evenly distributed among people.
• In equity, differences are recognized and the efforts they are made to counteract the way that individual opportunities are not equal. On the contrary, equality recognizes identity and therefore seeks to treat everyone as equal.
• Equality means having everyone the same, equity means having all the same opportunities. In equity, all people can have access to what they need. Equality, on the contrary, determines that all people have the same, for example, rights, resources and opportunities.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Difference between equality and equity, we recommend that you enter our category of Social psychology.

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