EQUITY WITHTOUT EQUALITY BE LIKE...

Woman: I don't think women should strive for gender equality. Instead they should push for gender equity.

Me: Why?

Woman: Because there are many areas in which men outperform women.

Me: You are a lawyer, right?

Woman: Yes.

Me: Do you think that you are less capable than your male colleagues?

Woman: No.

Me: Imagine if you were a woman in the 1960s USA and you wanted to study law, but you knew that your chances of becoming a lawyer were very slim. Because they only had 5 slots for women at Law School. Assuming there were 100 spots in total, 95 would be allocated to the 95 best scoring men, while 5 would be allocated to the 5 best scoring women. 

Woman: That would mean that they had separate charts for men and women, right?

Me: Yes.

Woman: Why would that be? Men and women should be on the same chart, based on their performance.

Me: No because that would be equality, and you said that you want equity. 

Woman: I know that, but I mean...Then they should have created a law school for women.

Me: And how would this law school differ from the men's? Would they teach different subjects? Give different exams? Set the performance bar lower?

Woman: No. It's to make sure that 95 women don't lose the chance of studying law.

Me: Well, someone would have failed to get into law school anyway. Did it matter that most of them were women?

Woman: That's unfair.

Me: That's equity for you. It's not about fairness. It's about reminding you that you are not the standard, and making a tiny room to accommodate you. 

We cannot opt for equality in some areas and equity in others. That would mean creating specific laws for all areas of life. Too demanding. We must choose one.

Equity or equality? What's your choice?