Social equity

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Social equity is concerned with justice and fairness of social policy. Since the 1960s, the concept of social equity has been used in a variety of institutional contexts, including education and public administration.

Equity within a society is different from social equality because it takes into account the individual differences that people may have when seeking an equal outcome. Equity describes equal outcomes for groups, also called substantive equality.^[1] For example, person A may have no difficulty walking, person B may be able to walk but with some difficulty, whilst person C may be unable to walk at all. Equality would be providing each of those three people with the same opportunities or aids. Per our example, if persons A, B, and C receive a wheelchair, this is a form of equality. Equity, on the other hand, would look different from equality because it would instead cater to each individual's differing needs. For the same example, person A may not receive any aids, person B may receive a walking stick, whilst person C may receive an electric wheelchair.