‘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.
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