Let's call the whole thing off

Now sing along ….

"You say potato and I say potato …. you say tomato and I say tomato …"

What’s in a name ….??Well, quite a lot actually.

Over the last few weeks, I have found myself in several conversations on the topics of diversity etc.?There seems to be a lot of chatter about the use of the term equity and its replacement of the more commonly known, equality, and I am hearing 4 schools of thought:

1.??????“It’s just a name change, it’s the same thing really”

2.??????“oh, is it a thing???I thought it was a typo?!”

3.??????“what now! – is this another thing I need to learn?”

And

4.??????“it’s a genuine change which is needed to reflect what we actually mean”

As you would imagine I’m in the latter camp.?My aim in this message is to clarify what equity is and what everyone needs to do about it …. and it’s really not that difficult.

Fundamentally, and as we know, equality is an approach which ensures everyone is given the same opportunities, access and resources.?Equity is a more personal or thoughtful approach and is when an individual’s circumstances are understood and the resources and opportunities are allocated accordingly.?

The way that I think about it is this - imagine you have a team of 8 colleagues all needing to work together to determine what’s happening on the other side of a high wall and then write a report on it.?The tall person in the 8 can do this already, so an equality approach would typically give the others in the team the same sized ladders to stand on, bringing them, in principle, up to the same height as the tall person; that sounds fair doesn’t it, everyone who needs it has a ladder, everyone has the same ladder …. now everyone’s equal???This approach may work, but consider that:

·??????Person 1 is much shorter than the others and the height of the ladder means that they can now see a higher part of the wall, but not over the wall

·??????Person 2 is a wheelchair user; therefore, a ladder of any description is not going to be the solution

·??????Person 3 has a visual impairment so we’re dealing with the wrong thing

·??????Person 4 is trans and their uncomfortable colleagues don’t know how to work with them – the ladder won’t help with that

·??????Person 5 is neurodiverse and standing on a ladder isn’t straightforward

·??????Person 6’s culture means that ladders are taboo

·??????Person 7 is 9 months pregnant and can’t get near the wall!

This last point is flippant of course but you get the point.???

What has happened in this bizarre situation, is what often happens in real life, we think of solutions or adjustments from our own perspective and not from others’ when we think of them at all. ??We generalise our approach without really thinking through the implications, and rarely do think through what our colleagues need from us.

So, as I said it’s not that difficult, and comes down to paying attention and listening, how hard can that be?!?!?

PS - and yes, the juggling was carnage