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The difference between equality and equity

There is a lot of discussion around equity these days. Equality and equity can be vastly different.

Equality refers to the value and worth of every person individually and their ability and right to be treated the same and have an equal opportunity, no matter what their race, gender, sexual preference, religion, etc. It’s what our country fought for in the Civil Rights movement and the women’s movement.

Systemic laws like Jim Crow laws were outlawed. If you are a woman, there is nothing you can’t do and presently women graduate from college at a much higher rate than men. It’s why people have continued to come here from around the world. They just want a place where, no matter where they came from, they can work hard and achieve their dreams.

It includes every race. There is no one who can hold you back if you are a person of color either. We elected former President Barack Obama twice; we have a diverse Supreme Court, Congress and entire towns that are governed by Black mayors, Black city councils, police chiefs, district attorneys, etc. Many of our favorite actors, musicians, sports figures and talk show hosts are people of color. No one can keep you from achieving anything you are capable of doing as long as you work hard for it.

Equity, however, is something quite different. It’s one of those things that sounds good at first blush, but when you think about it critically, it poses a few challenges.

Equity is more a philosophy that says we all have the same value and worth so we should be promised the same outcome. There’s a big difference, and it could be disastrous.

Our free market system is based on a meritocracy, which is a system where individuals advance on the basis of performance, talent, effort and demonstrated achievement, rather than wealth, political standing or social class.

It may sound “mean” or any number of adjectives that people may use to describe it, but it works really well.

If you go to university and you are failing, it’s not helpful to promise you a diploma anyway in the name of equity. If you are going to have brain surgery, you want to choose your specialist based on their merit and achievement, not because they were promised a position for any other reason.

If you are offered a position in a company, you want to accept it because you are the best person for that particular position. If you aren’t, you won’t be happy and the company may fail. If you are a scientist working on a cure for cancer, you need to be the most qualified person. We want the most qualified people flying our airplanes and manning our spaceships.

If you are competing for a position with the Lakers against a guy who is 7’6” and has practiced 10,000 hours of basketball, it’s actually more “fair” and works better for you, the whole team and the fans, to base the decision on meritocracy, not equity. If you aren’t as good as the other basketball player, it’s not “fair” to grant you the contract rather than the other guy.

Now that’s not to say there aren’t things we can do to help bring equity. For instance in education, we offer special programs to help the students who need a little extra help and that helps make things a little more equitable through their hard work.

I don’t think anyone would argue that it isn’t the right thing to do, but if we artificially inflate grades, or if we treat people differently just based on their “community,” gender, age or skin color, that’s where we start moving backward from where we’ve come.

When we see that certain neighborhoods or communities haven’t had access to capital or home ownership, there are programs created for them, such as first-time homebuyer programs. Then there are public/private partnerships like opportunity zones to encourage businesses to invest in communities and bring new life and jobs to neighborhoods.

Again, it requires ingenuity and hard work. Meritocracy isn’t a bad word. It’s necessary for a functional and successful society. When we work together and everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve and be rewarded, that’s when we thrive. It’s one of the things that makes America great.

Julie Reeder can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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