Equity vs. Equality

For the past two weeks, we have discussed diversity. To fully understand diversity, one must first understand the difference between equity vs. equality. 

According to George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” (Bold emphasis is mine).

Let me give an example:

An organization that I respect wanted minority employees to be able to apply for jobs beyond the service worker level. To make that possible, the organization partnered with a technical prep school to offer medical assistant (MA) and certified nursing assistance (CNA) education at a reduced price.  A stipend was also provided to be used while attending school.  You may think “but that isn’t fair. Why should they get free school tuition and money to live while they attend school?”

That’s a very good question. To understand the answer, let’s go back to equity vs. equality.

The organization wanted their employees to look more like the community. In order for that to happen, they needed more minority employees. As they looked around the surrounding areas, the “potential” minority employees did not have the income nor the ability to go to school.  OR, if they were able to go to school, they could not feed their family. The organization recognized both of these potential barriers and put in tactics to remove them. This was their way of being “equitable” with the applicants “different circumstances” [i.e. low income] and “allocating the exact resources and opportunities” [i.e. school tuition and stipend] needed to reach an equal outcome [i.e. having the employee population mirror the community]. 

Before we jump to another conclusion, let me add… the process was competitive; the employees had to maintain a passing grade level attend a high percentage of the classes (i.e. only miss one class per semester) and interview for open positions when they completed the training.  Managers looked at these applicants ahead of other external applicants and were aware the same organization that was hiring was the one that paid for their training. It only makes sense to hire the applicant who received pre-paid training. 

This is just one example of how diversity began in one organization. In upcoming posts, we will discuss more examples of diversity in action.

I’ll leave you with one challenge: What can you do in your organization to make diversity an action word?