Equity before Equality: The Importance of Centering Equity within Diversity Initiatives
Equality is an important and fundamental U.S.
American value. Our emphasis and commitment to treating people equally can
be traced back to 1776, with the Declaration of Independence which proclaimed
that "all men are created equal." Equal treatment of all
Americans has become increasingly important as our country continues to become
increasingly diverse.
The concept of equality is often times what
drives organizational diversity initiatives and strategies. The problem with this process of equality is that it doesn't always ensure equal opportunities or
outcomes for everyone. Treating people fairly and equally is certainly
important but unfortunately, equality does not always work to decrease the
disparities and inequalities that are a result of decades of systemic
discrimination - which has worked to disadvantage some Americans while
advantaging others.
Equity is the missing piece of the puzzle that
can help organizations be successful in reaching the goal of equality. Equity
is a crucial process that should be embraced by
organizations that are serious about creating a diverse and inclusive
organizational culture in which all people (regardless of social or cultural
identities) are included and treated equally. Check out the fourth vlog (see video above) of my Diversity and
Inclusion in the Workplace Series to learn more about the
differences between the process of equity and equality, and the reason that
equity should be at the center of organizational diversity initiatives.
Please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message with any thoughts or ideas you might have about the concepts of equality and equity! If you are interested in taking a deeper look at the process of equity, I encourage you to follow the work of Dr. Paul Gorki who is an expert on the topic of equity literacy.
Please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message with any thoughts or ideas you might have about the concepts of equality and equity! If you are interested in taking a deeper look at the process of equity, I encourage you to follow the work of Dr. Paul Gorki who is an expert on the topic of equity literacy.
F.06.29.2018
ReplyDeleteWell said, Mrs. Thomas-George! It is a 2-phase and 2- process for everyone who desires to be treated equal and likewise treat others equally. But unfortunately, it is hard to say preach one thing and practice another. Not many from the more advantaged groups, whether be men or more privileged class or race would walk the talk. It seems as they deserve all the rights and powers in the world and deserves to be treated better and not equal than the counterparts. Sad, but true. What is worse? They abuse that power along with their positions.
Having worked in the underscored school systems, surely the kids do not have what they need to be successful as those children who live in the wealthy areas. I agree that more resources given through the right channels should be granted to these school needy districts. There is the need of redistribution , the giving of the equal accesses, opportunities and resources. This should also apply to women in the workforce and likewise not the white race only. Other so called colored groups also deserve to be given the opportunities to develop themselves professionally in leadership positions and higher pays.
I really like how you have ended the vlog by saying if we want to treat people equally, then we must first take the time to know and understand the history of inequality. We need to demonstrate the selflessness and be committed and invested to balance out the imbalances and promote the fairness, redistributing the access, opportunities and resources. We need to have equity as our starting point before we can have equality.
I will continue to practice this as I have done all my professional years as a whole-child edu-preneur. Thank you for the echo and reminder.
J. Chang
It was really interesting to hear you explain the differences between equity and equality. "Fair is not always equal" is a term that we use often in elementary education. One of my teacher mentors, Joan Moser, who was one of the 2 Sisters that created the Daily 5 shared the analogy of a basketball game. She said that some students come in to the classroom like Michael Jordan and some come in like it's their first day on the court. Our job as educators is to help each child grow, but who needs more one-on-one time with the coach: Michael Jordan or the new player? The new player, of course! Michael Jordan can play and practice independently and that alone will help him, but the new player needs more assistance and guidance to reach that level. This analogy has really stuck with me in the first grade classroom. Many parents absolutely interchange the terms equality and equity, just like you described. They want me to meet with and spend as much time individually with their child, just like I would any other child in class, but that's not equitable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments that people often find equitable situations to be "reverse discrimination" or "oppressing," but I hope that the more people find that giving to previously discriminated cultures doesn't mean taking away from anyone else. I think that yours is a great message to share and I believe that working together all cultures can create a more equitable future.
Alecia Nesmith
ReplyDeleteI agree we do need to invest time to promote fairness to balance out the imbalances. I never realized that equality is not fair to everyone because as you stated it can lead to discrimination because not everyone starts in the same place. If everyone were to know about how equity is truly dretramental to achieve equality than maybe we could make the world a better place. As you stated if we give more resources to those who come from less in the educational aspect this will then help achieve in the advances of equality. I believe that just starting there will better the future for fairness. Because everyone says that the younger generations are the future. Therefore giving more resources to those who come from less today will in theory balance the gap with equality and inequality. We will be changing the future generations to have the same opportunities and power as those that already have that. Which will then lead to their future generations to start off with equality. In other words there won’t be anymore oppressions or systemic discrimination because everyone will all have the same advantages, thus strengthening intercultural relationships.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think of equality as the goal. We want everyone to have exactly the same opportunities. I think of equity as the path. Equity in a real estate property has to do with the value of a home. So applying this idea (as my mind does!) is that we are taking and adding value to people, getting them the market value. Homes may have been abandoned, kept up properly or in a tough neighborhood. We want to know what resources do we need to get that home to a place where its value reflects the market price. I know this over simplifies it. And not a perfect analogy, but I see that it has to do with adding value or seeing value in people. And being will to invest in them.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is extremely difficult to achieve equality. As a minority I understand the challenges of being looked at as inferior. In term of certain settings, equality is almost nonexistant. Like you said about education. Some of my friends did not have the advantage of receiving the secondary education that I did. I think that is very unfair. I think we can improve this by getting better funds from the government. Many social institutions in impoverished areas are terrible, and if they had the money it would be better. I think that America is getting better with this but can rally improve
ReplyDeleteThis is Brandon Sebeh by the way
DeleteI think that it is so important for all people to understand the difference between equity and equality. I feel that may people today are so focused on equality without understanding the difference between the two concepts and how we need to focus on both to form a successful society.
ReplyDeleteIn order to strengthen intercultural communications we need to understand that each situation is going to be different. Understanding the equity may involve giving more to less is difficult, but it may play a key role in working with other cultures and having successful communications.
John Cotter's response:
ReplyDeleteLoved this blog and the ideas that you talked about that aren't brought up enough in media, especially with the diction and context that you used. I also believe that a further focus on the collaboration and usage of both equity and equality will lead to better representations of all genders, races, and cultures. But, as you discussed, you can't treat everyone the same since everyone has had a different starting point in terms of equality (ex: men and women being treated "equally" would not make sense). So, we must present equity as a means of "equalling out the playing field" because certain people and groups need more resources than others. This means more attention needing to be paid towards more underdeveloped schools districts needing a bigger amount of resources given than other, more well-off, schools. The struggles that women face in the work place can also be helped by inclusion strategies as this will help many realize the struggles women face in their lives and provide the resources needed to help these women. With equity balancing out imbalances and equality being the greater idea that equity is under, we can better balance out rights and equal rights with a better focus on equity within equality's wider definition. Loved the blog!
I really learned a lot from this blog. I have always believed in the need for equality and been an advocate for equity through my volunteer work. That said, there are many people that I know that don't believe that we need equity to achieve equality. I often hear the argument that America is the land of opportunity and those that don't succeed are not trying hard enough. Your blog does a great job of explaining the need for equity in order to achieve equality. I believe that we won't achieve equity until we incorporate intercultural education in our public schools. I have learned how important it is to understand cultures and their history in your intercultural communications class. I believe that when we have a generation that has learned/embraced intercultural histories and differences, intercultural communication will improve and equity will become the norm and not the exception.
ReplyDeleteHi Cindu,
ReplyDeleteA great topic to talk about. Growing up, my mother was a school teacher, and often commented on the lack of equity being shown students, and students with special needs. Maybe it was not the same for all school districts, and I don't remember the exact statistics my mother gave, but the amount of resources devoted to children with special needs vs the more "mainstream" children ( I say mainstream because that's what it was called when I was in school, if there is a different word for it now, I'm sorry and meant no offense) was staggering. I'm not saying, by any means, that money and resources should be taken away from students with special needs. I am, however, saying that people of any classification (and not just in the field of education) need to strike a balance. We as a nation have a long way to go on the road to equity and equality, but in my opinion, it is a concept that needs to be fought for.
P.S.
DeleteThis is David again. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my response as is. Equity and Equality is not a hard concept to grasp, but it will be a hard one to sell. That is not to say that I do not think people support it, I mean to say that it will be a fight. Looking to the pay gap between classes as an example, I remember the news featuring stories about raising the minimum wage to 15$/hr, and the uproar that "that much of a pay raise" caused. My parents have both said that minimum wage workers "should go to school so they can get a job that pays better." That doesn't work like that, sad to say. Even if one could go to school and earn a degree, there is no promise that a job will be waiting.
Greed and power are some of the drivers of inequity and inequality. Before we begin treating the symptoms, I think we need to take a look at the cause, in this case greed and power. Before much will change, I think we, as humans, need to look at what drives us, and shift our foundation before we begin building on sand.
Cindu, it is very nice to hear your thought on equality and equity in such a comprehensive manner. I have to admit my guilt on sometimes confusing or interchanging these two terms often. You discussed the matter in a way easy for everyone to understand in layman terms and I appreciate that. I have seen this in my daughters' schools several times, in academics and sports, and I had found it difficult to explain why equity is important in order to achieve equality. I believe it is essential to understand the concept why some colleges are promoting equity rather than blind equality so the playground is evened out for everyone to be given a fair chance to show what they are capable when given the opportunity. Thank you for this eye opener.
ReplyDeletePrior to watching this video I did not think of the relation between equity and equality. I thought that equality was giving everyone the same opportunities regardless of the starting point. Now I see that we need equity to create equality. This idea reminds me a bit of the Robin Hood idea, take from the rich and give to the needy. I know that relation is a bit extreme but in this case it causes balances between the two sides. As a woman it is bothersome to think that I need more help than a man because even if we are given the same opportunities, men will still come out ahead. I think to be good intercultural communicators we need to be able to balance the fairness between everyone. Treating everyone the same does not promote fairness, it causes the differences to be overshadowed. In order for it to truly be fair, we all need to start from the same point, and as we know, that is not the case. Those that come from poverty and low socioeconomic class need more help than someone who was born into an upper middle class family. If we approached every individual situation and took into account the tools they need for success, we would be able to give them the opportunity to succeed.
ReplyDeleteSydney Goldman
ReplyDeleteWhat really stuck with me was when you talked about how equity to those in power and who have privilege think that it is reverse discrimination. When I heard this my first thought was that yes there are some people in power who are willing to do good for others but majority look down on giving to others. I have always thought of this as selfish because many people in power demand on those with less, an example being politicians who rely on voters for donations and support. A way we can use equity to create equality can be seen in agriculture, along with business and gender. We see today that many typically under-developed countries have little food sources. The food shortage for these places, I think, is a problem with equity. There is actually enough food in the world it is just not being distributed properly. In order to promote intercultural communication and stop the stereotypes in and about countries, equity can be used on multiple scales like agriculture, politics, business, class etc. It will allow people help they need in order to be seen as equal.
You did an amazing job at really explaining the differences and similarities between equity and equality. This is a topic that had been discussed in a previous class called Diversity in Education. I believe that equity is so important because everyone should get the support that they need. For example, you touched base on the idea that underprivileged schools should get more funds and help to be able to catch up to other schools that are much more priviledged. The down side of that, is that some at the priviledged school will feel opressed because it won't be "equal" funds. I believe that inorder to create equality for all Americans, equity is something that should be talked about to children in order for them to understand that equity and equality are not the same thing, but that they're both important. They will grow up understanding the important of both amd hopefully advocate for equity to those that are in need of the extra support. As a future educator, the topic of equity amd equality is something that is very intriguing to me and this video really helped me undertand the concept of both of them. Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a very interesting topic to talk about. I never really knew the importance on how both equity and equality play and importance when it comes to fairness. Nor did I really think it played a huge impact on us. After learning about it I have come to see that it affects us in all ways, and if we really don't see the importance on how it affects us change might not happen. For the example on how women play a huge role by simply seeing how far we have gone from just simply being house wives to now running million dollar corporations.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we can use the process of equity to create equality for all Americans and strengthen intercultural relationships in our country by ending discrimination and stereotyping. We could do so by helping everyone achieve a same level and by doing so we could look at education and perhaps promote it more and help those students who really want to study, but do not have the sufficient funds for doing so. Another way is to look at those who have businesses by helping those who need more resources to make their business strive instead of just wanting them to fail so another could benefit more.
First off, I would like to say thank you for sharing this! I never looked at equity going hand in hand with equality. I always thought that as long as you treat everyone equally, you can't go wrong! Once you explained how equity comes into play, that helped me understand better why you can't have one without the other. I'm sure plenty of people think the way that I did about equality but they don't know about equity. If more of this was taught, it would change intercultural relationships as a whole. Thanks again, I will be sharing this with some of my co-workers and classmates!
ReplyDeleteIt's informative content post, really I read & like this type of post and I would like to recommend Clayengage.com for Skills Development Programs.
ReplyDeleteSkills Development Programs
HR Consultancy Services