What equality means

Signs once used in some countries, like 'drinking fountain: white' and 'coloured', strike most of us as unacceptable: they violate our sense that all humans deserve the same respect and consideration.

But equal respect is not identical treatment. No society treats everyone exactly the same in every situation. A division of work brings different status and rewards: we do not usually feel that a prime minister's or an army general's special rank and status go against equality, provided the privileges are not misused.

• What is unacceptable is treating people differently just because they were born into a particular religion, race, caste or gender, or denying a child born in a slum good food and education through no fault of their own.
• People pursue different goals and are not equally successful: some become fine musicians or scientists, others are known for hard work. As long as everyone can develop the best in themselves, equality is not undermined.
• So equality does not mean eliminating all differences. It means the treatment we receive and the opportunities we enjoy must not be pre-determined by birth or social circumstance.

Equality of opportunity. All people are entitled to the same rights and opportunities to develop their skills and talents and pursue their goals. Unequal success then follows from different choices and talents. What makes a society unequal and unjust is not differences of status or wealth as such, but unequal access to basic goods such as education, health care and safe housing.

Natural and social inequalities.

• Natural inequalities arise from people's different capabilities and talents, which they are born with and which are generally assumed to be unalterable.
• Socially-produced inequalities arise from unequal opportunities or the exploitation of some groups by others: for example, valuing mental work above manual work, or treating people differently by race, colour, gender or caste.
• The line is not always clear. Long-standing unequal treatment has often been justified as 'natural': women were called 'the weaker sex'; colonial rulers claimed Black Africans were less intelligent, to justify slavery. These claims are now seen as prejudices produced by power, not by nature.
• And some 'natural' differences are no longer fixed: computers help blind people, wheelchairs and artificial limbs help with physical disability. The physicist Stephen Hawking could hardly move or speak, yet made major contributions to science.
• So many theorists now distinguish between inequalities that come from our own choices and those that come from the family or circumstances we are born into. It is the latter that advocates of equality want to reduce.

Example (new): two friends get different marks after one chose to practise for the debate team instead of studying for a test: that difference follows from a choice. A girl who cannot sit the test because she must look after younger siblings faces an inequality of circumstance.