Chris Norbury
I was born as a twin. Not an identical twin (don’t worry there isn’t two of me running around) but as a fraternal twin, two different eggs fertilized at the same time.
My mother did a good job at instilling a value of fairness and equality between my sister and I. We split everything. My sister won something? We both split it (thanks mom, that got me a sweet set of walkie talkies when I was a kid). Only one toy? take turns or share it. If we got a cupcake to share, we split it down the middle, the other got to choose which they wanted. It was a good method of keeping us honest.
Equality is great, it keeps things fair. Everyone gets the same so what’s wrong with that? Nothing, that’s great. What about when people have less to begin with?
Let’s look at an example of the public school system. Everyone gets 12 free years of education to get them ready for the world. That’s equality, we all get something. Then why do some kids do better? For some its simple: your born with it. Some people are born with intelligence, some people are born with the ability to study, some people are just good students. The majority of people aren’t born with these traits and have to learn how to work harder, develop good skills. What about family life? Can that make a difference? Big time. If someone has loving parents they will do better. Mom, dad or their caregiver will give them a hand with their studies. Or maybe give them a talking to when they’re slipping, or even consequences if they start doing poorly. Whatever is done its done out of caring, for their best interest.
Now what about a child who doesn’t have that support at home? They need help too right? So then they get extra help after school, maybe a guidance councillor comes in and gives them a hand… That’s not special treatment right? It’s helping a child in need because maybe what everyone gets isn’t enough.
Here’s another example: one that used to bother me a lot: Agencies designed to help a certain sex, or race. Wait… that’s reverse racism or sexism right? Why don’t I deserve that service? I need help too right? Sometimes we all need help, but when you take a step back sometimes a group of people need more help, and there are reasons, good ones.
Let’s look at domestic violence.
Huffington Post reported that in 2010 85 percent of all domestic violence victims in the USA are female.
The Canadian Women’s foundation has some great statistics: seven in ten people who experience family violence are female. Women are ten times more likely to be the victim of police reported sexual assault in 2018. 80 percent of victims of dating violence are women.
Most men will never abuse their wives or families, but the aggressors in these situations are more likely to be male than female. That’s why we see some social agencies designed just for women. Most of these agencies are open to everyone, which is great, but some are specifically for women and that’s great.
That’s equality: getting more because you need it to have the same chances everyone else has.
Now this graphic really put it into perspective for me:
Equality everyone gets the same. Sounds perfect right? Not always.
Equality is harder, it makes things seem unfair. It’s upsetting when you see someone get something more than you do because you deserve it don’t you?
We all deserve something, some special treatment, but do we actually need it? Or does someone need it more?
