One of the key components for achieving the SDGs is that absolutely no life must be left behind. All life on this planet, though unique and diverse, is equally precious and worthy, and deserves to live with dignity.
Most of us are familiar with the concept of equality, broadly understood as the ‘state of being equal’, or ‘getting equal rights or opportunities in life’. However, in reality, people’s starting point in life varies tremendously. For instance, a child raised in an English-speaking household will find it easy to adjust and learn in an English medium school, as compared to a child raised in a non-English speaking household. Equality is when both children find admission in an English medium school. However, due to the language constraint, the second child may face learning difficulties if the teachers are not mindful of his/her language needs and therefore, do not pay greater attention to bridge this language gap. In other words, the second child will not be able to reap the full benefit of this equal opportunity.
This is where equity comes into play. Equity means providing a platform to people to thrive in a way that’s best suited to them, in the right proportion, in order to create a level playing field. In the above given example, this would mean providing more support to the second child so that he/she too can enjoy his/her learning like the first child who already has a head start in life (also understood as privilege).
Although the aim of both equality and equity is to create a just and fair society, equality relates to treating everybody equally irrespective of their circumstances, whereas equity recognizes people’s unique circumstances and challenges, i.e., their differing starting point, and calls for bridging this starting gap through multiple approaches.
It can be said that equity is a necessary condition for building a fair and equal world.
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