Equity vs. Equality: Differences & Examples

Well-mean­ing peo­ple often use the terms ​“equi­ty” and ​“equal­i­ty” inter­change­ably when dis­cussing mat­ters relat­ed to race and social jus­tice. While both terms have to do with ​“fair­ness,” there are key dif­fer­ences as the appli­ca­tion of one over the oth­er may lead to dras­ti­cal­ly dif­fer­ent out­comes. Equal­i­ty requires that every­one receives the same resources and oppor­tu­ni­ties, regard­less of cir­cum­stances and despite any inher­ent advan­tages or dis­ad­van­tages that apply to cer­tain groups. Equi­ty, on the oth­er hand, con­sid­ers the spe­cif­ic needs or cir­cum­stances of a per­son or group and pro­vides the types of resources need­ed to be successful.