Equity and equality are two words that are often used interchangeably — but when it comes to achieving ending global poverty, we must understand their differences.
In short, equityis fairness, and equality is sameness. In many instances, fairness is achieved when taking into account the structural inequalities that push people even further into the fringes of society.
For example, communities of color are experiencing higher rates of mortality from COVID-19 than other populations in many countries — including the United States, and Europe.
This is caused in part by structural racism, which can lead to cycles of poverty. Structural racism refers to institutions, systems and structures in society that operate in ways that uphold racism, and make it more difficult for people of color or ethnic minorities to particpate in society. For example in America, Black Americans are over-represented in the criminal justice system with dismal living conditions, leading to some of the highest rates of COVID-19; People of color in many European are also over-represented in essential jobs, such as taxi driving, and are over exposed to the virus.
This is critical — in order to address this disparity, we have to push for more resources to those communities, rather than equal resources to communities that are not suffering as high of a mortality rate.
We must also address the systems that unfairly and actively marginalize communities, or push people to the peripheries of society due to their income, ethnicity, gender or sexual identity. While equality is an ideal outcome for marginalized communities across the world, equity is the framework which will help us achieve these positive, equal outcomes.
The words we use matter and words have power. Test yourself on which words speak best to what example.