EQUALITY OR EQUITY?
Something you wished you had thought about.
I have always wondered on how both equality and equity are seen. Many people preach equality between men and women, but should it be equality? Let’s find out.
What is Equality?
Equality is the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities. It is making sure that every party, gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, class and so on, has an equal opportunity or right to do what they want and get what they are to get without disparity or discrimination.
The opposite of Equality is Inequality; and it is the practice of not being equal, the state of showing discrimination or disparities. In our society today, there are some positions that some people cannot get, either because they are not wealthy or do not have connections.
It is safe to say connection is what drives the society. Inequality is much rather preached or seen in our everyday lives and not equality. But not to dive into that, Equality is what everyone that has gone through the unfair nature that comes with Inequality prays to get.
What is Equity?
Equity on the other hand, is justice according to natural law, or right. It is simply freedom from bias or favoritism. Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women's historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field.
Take for instance, a lady invites her partner to go out on a date with her. It was totally her idea to go out. Once they get to the restaurant, for example, because of what we were brought up with, the guy is the one that is expected to fund the outing. It shouldn’t be! What if the man in question did not feel like going out? What if he was currently not okay financially? What if he just wanted to stay at home and cuddle up with you? Is that the right time to force him to go out or end up nagging when he decides not to? We need to caution our thinking and attitudes toward such things.
I am not against lounging around and getting spoilt by a man you’re supposedly in a relationship with, but we need inculcate the attitude of taking action when we are supposed to. Maybe then we will be free from bias and favoritism. Maybe then, we would not be made fun of and seen as weak or as innately passive.
On the other hand, men and women are not fashioned the same way, for example in strengths. I am not against the feminists and what they preach, because to some extent, they are right. But you don’t expect to believe that women can take on some or most of the physical training or things that men go through. All they can do is to try their bests to do what they can do.
The reality of what we see in the world is different from what we all hoped it was. It is high time we changed our mentality and see things in a new and different light.
Distinction
People often think that both Equality and Equity is the same thing. Fine, they are closely knitted, but the word ‘equity’ is dual-purpose.in the sense of gender and the workplace, equity leads to equality. It sets the stage for equality, as it refers to the “fairness of treatment for both women and men, according to their respective needs and strength. If equality is the end goal, equity is the means to get there.
“Gender equality, equality between men and women, does not mean that women and men have to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equity means fairness of treatment for men and women, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment that is different, but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations, and opportunities.” -United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESDOC)
Although both promote fairness, equality achieves this through treating everyone the same level regardless of need, while equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need and strength. The few people that have the deep meaning and understanding of the word Equity today try to bring clarity on the distinction between gender equality and gender equity. Their aim is also to try to breach the gender equity gap and to reduce the notion that there should be absolute equality between men and women.
Patriarchy?
Bringing the idea of patriarchy into this notion, in Friedrich Engel’s “The Origin of the Family, Property and the State” (1884), he refers to patriarchy as the world’s historical defeat of the female sex. It was said by many social scientists in the nineteenth century that patriarchy was a form of political organization that distributed power unequally between men and women to the detriment of women (Alda Facio, 2013).
The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language Dictionary defines Patriarchy as “a primitive social organization in which authority is exercised by a male head of a family, extending this power even to distant relative of the same lineage”.
In Allan Johnson's words:
“What drives Patriarchy as a system - what fuels competition, aggression, and oppression - is a dynamic relationship between control and fear. Patriarchy encourages men to seek security, status, and other rewards through control; to fear other men's ability to control and harm them; and to identify being in control as both their best defense against loss and humiliation and the surest route to what they need and desire. In this sense, although we usually think of patriarchy in terms of women and men, it is more about what goes on among men. The oppression of women is certainly an important part of patriarchy, but, paradoxically, it may not be the point of patriarchy."
“Although oppression of women is not the point of patriarchy, a social system that is male-identified, male-controlled, male-centered will inevitably value masculinity and masculine traits over femininity and feminine traits. In such a system, men (and women) will be encouraged to regard women as beings suited to fulfill male needs” - Patriarchy and Inequality: Towards a Substantive Feminism 1999 by Mary Becker.
All these quotes by different writers and scholars are just to further explain the meaning and notion of Patriarchy. Patriarchy is just a fancy word that puts the male gender’s authority over the female gender.
Smashing Patriarchy?
Here are some tips:
Men need to interact with women with respect and recognition of our shared humanity, and stop the idea of using the clause “boys will be boys” to justify their aggression or behaviors.
Stop the belief that men are naturally aggressive, while women are innately passive.
Stop expecting women to tolerate men’s violence.
Stop the limiting view of what men and women should be.
Both men and women should be free to express their feelings, putting into consideration, each other’s feelings so as not to hurt each other.
Think about gender in a new light and in the unconventional ways. Burying the idea that a male figure has to be the decision-maker or breadwinner. It is not so in some families due to unfortunate instances.
Men need to understand that when a lady says NO, she means NO, and not a shy YES.
Men and women both make patriarchy their attitude without realizing it, either because of what they learned or what they were brought up with. As a result of this, they push aside their best judgment, sacrificing their needs for what they believe is right or how they are supposed to behave. Patriarchy divided just about everything, into what is male, and what is female and how it favors males.
Now the question we should be answering is should we preach Gender Equality or Gender Equity? Let me know in the comment’s section.
Gender equity. Nice write-up babe😘
Gender equity should be preach