Illustrated: Inequality, Equality, Equity and Justice.

Here’s an illustration that can help us understand what is the difference between all of these abstract terms.

Inequality is essentially when people do not have equal access to opportunities. From the first image, you could say that, some people are better positioned to reap benefits that they did not sow or worked hard for simply due to their skin color, lack of disability, size, looks, height, or anything else that has nothing related to one’s merit.

Equality is when tools and assistance are evenly distributed. Note that, this is not the same as goods and opportunities, but simply tools and assistance. If everyone were given the same tools to access opportunities, it does not necessarily fix inequality. Take for example if two people were looking for job. Equality would be that they are given the same computer and resume workshop. But although everyone may be given these help, but it does not fix the systemic issues, such as discrimination against race, gender, ethnicity etc.

Equity is custom tools that identity and address equality. When prejudice and racism is identified, you try to give advantage to those who are disadvantage to put them on an even playing field. For example, some racial groups are economically disadvantaged and have a historically lower graduation rate. So, at least in Canada, there are scholarships that benefits those demographics and not others. If you were a native, you basically get free education and scholarships. This is because inequality is identified, and the institutions tries to help them out more to get them to where the rest of the population are.

Justice is fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities. Justice is what everyone in the street is fighting for. it’s not enough to give people the same tools that don’t all work the same, but it is about fixing the tree itself, so that everyone can receive the same benefit for the same work. This would be true meritocracy and capitalism. The drawback of this is that, it’s those who have long enjoyed their privilege and power that were able to ascend into powerful positions, would they so easily yield to change the same system that benefited them?