‘Inclusiveness and Equity are the most
important characteristics rather than using the fundamental of equality for the
growth of the country.’
Both, ‘equality’
and ‘equity’ refer to a common thing; however, both have a different meaning to
them. The term 'Equality' refers to giving the same opportunities to all
irrespective of their needs, whereas, the term 'Equity' refers to giving
opportunities to those who need it.
This is a very
common example quoted for explaining Equality and Equity.
In the context of
equality, every person in the picture is given a single stool to treat them
equally. However, it did not help the shortest person to see the match as much as it
helped the tallest person. In the context of equity however, the needs of the
individuals were taken into consideration and the support was thus provided to
the shortest person to bring him at par with the tallest one.
Both these terms
aim to provide the same thing i.e. fairness. However the way is different. One
focuses on treating everyone the same whereas, the other means treating people
based on their needs. For example, in a class there are some students who need
extra support for their studies, whereas some might not need it. Giving
everyone that extra support, even though they don’t require is equality but
giving the extra support to those who need them and make them able to be at the
same level with others is equity.
Equality aims to provide
everyone the same beginning line, whereas equity aims to provide everyone the
same finishing line. There are times when everyone has the same opportunity but
still out of them there are some people who might not achieve success because
of the lack of other resources. For example, government has subsidies on gas
cylinder and food for all the people in the country, whether rich or poor. However
there are some who don’t have a home to cook their food in or the subsidies
might not even reach them. This flourishes the people who are rich however, the
poor, even though getting the same opportunity as the rich, lags behind in life
and in society. Whereas the system of reservation in schools, colleges, and
jobs for the deprived and the women is an example of equity as it aims to
provide education and employment to those who are left behind due to non
availability of the resources such as money or gender biasness. It is very
important to take into consideration that not every person has the foundation
level to begin with which creates a difference in the outcomes even though
everyone has the same opportunity. Thus it is very important to provide
everyone with the same base level to begin with, then only we have the same
outcome from them.
