7. Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Workplace

Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equality is about being equal in status, rights, and opportunities, whereas equity is about how we get there through fairness and impartiality (Frones et al., 2020). Equality sets the ground rules for creating a fair playing field, but it needs equity to make sure that everyone can compete on that field. Recognizing that each person (or group of people) has different circumstances and allocating individualized resources or opportunities to that person (or group of people), respective to their unique characteristics, perspectives, and life experiences, to enable an equal outcome.