Equality versus Equity: A call to all change-makers, growth-seekers and path-breakers

All of us, in our lifetime, look at various forms of injustice around us and wonder, why? Right from our school days where we see our teachers treating their ‘favourite’ students preferentially to our workplaces where capable individuals lose opportunities because of XYZ reason; mostly which have nothing to do with their caliber.

Many of us may choose to stay mum to instances of injustice around us. But a chosen few, with this unyielding fire in their hearts, chose to respond, act out, in ways they think will make things better.

I like to believe that each one of us is passionate about something in our life. There are issues that make each of our hearts burn with an unyielding fire. You may be a feminist fighting for equality of the sexes, an environmental activist with an unyielding desire to make the world a safer place or a good old citizen, trying to voice your opinion and share the right information to as many people as you can.

If you are one such person, you may want to hear what I want to share with you today.

When passion runs our desire for change, sometimes we tend to act blind-sighted. For us millennials and Gen Z, following the bandwagon of the #cause of the day has almost become a norm. We do it almost robotically, without really realizing what is it that we truly stand for?

If you are one such person my friend, I hope this will lead you a little bit closer to your calling.

Whenever one tries to fight for injustice, a standard approach that most of us take is to bring the disadvantaged to an equal platform of rights and liberties as the traditionally privileged. Agar unhe itna mil raha hai toh hume bhi utna hi milna chahiye! (Whatever they receive, we must also get the same) This is a chosen call for all fights against injustice.

It is precisely from this idea of equality that some men for example may ask, “If women want equal rights and liberties as men, are they willing to take the same level of bashing and thrashing as men are trained to do?” I want to say No! To all those who think the fight against injustice is a call for equality. It is not. Rather, it is a call for equity.

For through equity we demand a fair share of liberties and rights based on our needs. You can’t expect a visually challenged individual to finish a two hour exam without a scribe just because a physically able person can. Similarly, you can’t expect a woman going through dysmenorrhea to function as adequately as her male counterpart.

We can’t expect our future generations to take care of the planet when all we are leaving them to live in is polluted land, air and seas. 

So when we carry this blazing fire within us to fight for the causes we are passionate for, let us understand that our fight is towards equity more than equality. Equal opportunities and rights are not enough anymore. Each person deserves a fair share of opportunities and privileges based on their unique needs.

If one did not choose to be born underprivileged, one does not deserve to be treated as one.

May God bless us all in our pursuit for a better world!