Equality vs. Equity: A Difference You May Not Be Aware Of
“Equality is giving everyone the same pair of shoes. Equity is giving everyone a pair of shoes that fits.” — Anonymous
As we move towards making the world a fairer and more equal place, it is important to recognise that the path is not always straightforward. The terms equality and equity may sound the same, but both of these ideas yield different outcomes for marginalised groups. For women, the glass ceiling has been applied since the very beginning.
What is Equality?
Equality is based on the belief that all people need the same opportunities, rights, and resources to have a productive and enjoyable life. For example, equality in the workplace may ensure that both men and women receive the same pay raise, regardless of whether or not the female employees already make less than the male employee. This assumes that everyone will benefit from the same support. Equality was particularly important during the Suffragette movement, in which women fought for the right to vote, and for their votes to count in the same way as men’s votes do. Gender equality means that an individual’s rights, responsibilities, and opportunities are not determined by the sex they are assigned at birth.
However, this idea assumes that both men and women are starting from an equal playing field of privilege, which is often not the case. From the hiring process, employers’ biases come into play: A Yale University study found that bias-trained male and female scientists were both more likely to hire men and pay them 4,000 USD more per annum than their female counterparts. Further, faculty selected a higher starting salary and more career mentoring to the male applicant, though statistically female applicants are more likely to need such mentoring. Even if two employees are given the same salary, there may be other things hindering them, like educational disparities and biases in role progression. Studies also show that racial hiring bias is still evident, with 2021 data showing that there was an evident gap in callbacks between applications with candidates with distinctively white names versus distinctive Black names. In 2015, one woman applied to 12 vacancies with the same CV, but using her husband’s European surname for half of them and her sole more “foreign-sounding” surname on the other half. All six places with a European surname received an interview, while only one with a foreign surname did. She then discovered that every recruitment team she applied to were fully white, and likely choosing candidates that were familiar to them. This may not have come from racist intentions, but simply confirmation bias, where people feel more comfortable interacting with people from their own social or cultural backgrounds. This unconscious bias may not be intentional, but it has a deep impact on candidates who will, even when hired, still have other barriers to overcome.
Even when equality is encouraged both in hiring and in the workplace, unconscious bias may blind employers to seeing how equality can truly be achieved. This is why workplaces need to observe their practices and behaviours so that, even if these behaviours may seem equal from an outsider’s perspective, they may be altered so that each employee is able to reach the same level of productivity and success. For a woman or a person of colour to break the glass ceiling, it often requires more time, effort, and energy from the get-go. It is up to the employer to provide a ladder.
What is Equity?
Equity recognises that not everybody begins in the same position in society. It considers adverse circumstances, challenges, and conditions that may be out of one’s control, and advocates for marginalised groups to be tended to in a personalised way. It looks at potential outcomes and allocates the necessary resources for an individual to succeed. For example, when it comes to a pay raise, using equity would mean that rather than everyone’s salary being raised by a certain amount, they would be raised to a certain amount. If a woman is already making less than a man is, their pay would be raised more than the male employee but would achieve equal outcomes. However, this may still not be enough.
One important example is childcare. In the United States, women spent more than double the amount of time physically caring for children than men. Despite this, however, in a two-parent household, a woman’s yearly earnings fall below the original amount when the child is born. Data from the 2017 census shows that as the child gets older, the earnings gap between both parents remains. While for parents under 25 and over 35 their earnings catch up to their male partner by the time the child turns 18, for couples between those ages, the mother never catches up as their career progresses, even after the child reaches adulthood. With the majority of women in the workforce having children between the ages of 25 and 34, this is a pressing issue. Recent ONS data also shows that the number of women leaving the workforce to look after a family has increased for the first time in decades, by 12.6% in the past year. With childcare costs rising and flexible/remote work opportunities decreasing since 2020, it puts strain on both the mother and the working parent. It is important to recognise the long-term impact such a hit can have on the rest of a woman’s career. However, ensuring that this inequity is resolved at the beginning of a child’s life can even out the financial strain long-term and allow for productive role progression for the mother. Examples would include providing the mother with child-care resources, maternity leave and post-maternity reintegration, support that male employees would not need. Equity, in any case, requires active listening and continuous conversation, as barriers can appear and disappear at any moment and should be relieved regardless of how far the employee is in their career journey.
The Difference
The typical assumed approach to gender equality and equity stems from the idea that men and women should be treated the same. However, the UN defines it: “Equality does not mean that women and men become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities, and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.” This is an important distinction to make. There are different steps that must be taken for each gender in order to give male and female employees equal opportunities, as they do not start from the same level of privilege. This recognition is equity. It may include equal treatment, but only if deemed fitting to the circumstances. Though it may seem like equal pay and vacation days solve gender-based issues from the outside, there are several deep-run issues that can still cause unequal disparities in an employee’s experience. It is important to recognise that an employee does not arrive at the employer as a blank slate, and several factors of their previous experiences can be barriers hindering them from progressing. These barriers can be addressed and relieved through workshops and inclusive efforts, not just benefits and pay raises. Through equity, we can achieve the ultimate goal of equality.
