The ABLe exChange
The ABLe exChange provides powerful tips and ideas for transforming your local community.
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Equity is when everyone has a fair and just opportunity for health and wellbeing (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2016).
Unfortunately, some groups experience more obstacles to this opportunity than others, such as a lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education, housing, safe environments, and healthcare. Often, these obstacles accumulate because of discrimination related to socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability status, geographic location, or a combination of these characteristics (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2014).
A focus on Equity involves removing the obstacles preventing some groups from having the opportunity for health and wellbeing – and addressing the reasons why these groups experience more obstacles than others.
Below are some key differences between
equity
and
equality
:
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Equality
- Assumes everyone starts from the same place and has equal access to resources and opportunities.
- Says everyone should be treated the same and given the same things.
- EXAMPLE: All public schools in a community have computer labs with the same number of computers and hours of operation during the school day.
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Equity
- Acknowledges neighborhoods and systems are structured in ways that give some groups more access to resources and opportunities than others.
- Says people should have access to resources and opportunities based on their unique needs and circumstances.
- EXAMPLE: Each school provides adequate computers and hours of operation to meet the specific needs of students within their building - especially those who don’t have access to computers, printers, or the internet at home.
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Check out this checklist to help understand whether a plan, policy, or strategy is equity focused vs. equality focused.
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Practical Tips:
Talking about Equity
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People are often challenged when it comes to talking about equity with others. These conversations, though difficult, are critical for building a shared understanding and value for equity in the community.
The following are several resources to help support your conversations about equity.
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Check out this image comparing equity and equality from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2017.
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The video describes why some children experience worse outcomes related to success in school and life than others. Helpful for illustrating the types of obstacles often leading to inequities.
Source: The Campaign for Grade-level Reading, 2014
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Talking about equity and inequity can be difficult. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation have funded research looking at how various ways to talk about equity resonate with different Americans (see first two resources linked below). The research suggests avoiding language that triggers negative reactions given people’s current political paradigms, and instead using language that better resonates with diverse audiences such as:
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Words to Avoid
- “Equal, equality or equalizing”
- “Leveling the playing field”
- “Creating balance”
- ‘Unjust/injustice”
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Words to Use
- “Raising the bar for everyone”
- “Giving everyone an opportunity to live a healthy life”
- “Not right”
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Framing to Avoid
- Who is to blame for current inequities
- Focus on fairness (risks people getting into debates about what this means)
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Framing to Use
- What (policies, practices, etc.) is to blame for current inequities
- Focus on results of using an equity approach (e.g., all children graduating)
- Focus on opportunity for all
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by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2010)
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by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (2006)
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(especially pages 33-34)
by the Frameworks Institute
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Additional Readings
Reports, tools, guides, and assessments to help organizations and change efforts pursue equity.
Practical tools to help practitioners, advocates, community groups, and policymakers promote equity with their efforts.
Reports, tools, and training opportunities around how to promote racial equity within change efforts.
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Reach out to your local CHIR to share ideas and take action around promoting equity in your region.
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Current Discussion Topic:
What resources are you using to help talk with others about equity?
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Q&A
Q:
"How can we start bringing a focus on equity into our CHIR discussions?"
A:
There are lots of ways to embed an equity focus into your local discussions, such as:
- Add agenda items to help groups consider equity within planning and decision-making
- Use an Equity Impact Assessment tool to help groups consider equity questions in their planning
- Have one person per meeting volunteer to listen for (and then highlight) opportunities where the group could consider equity in the discussion
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October 2018
This ABLe exChange update is distributed to ABLe Change Training participants. It is intended to provide information to support your future efforts. Have an idea for a future update? Email us at:
ablechangeteam@gmail.com
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References
Annie E Casey Foundation (2006). Race matters: How to talk about race. Retrieved from
https://www.aecf.org/resources/race-matters-2/
john powell, Stephen Menendian & Jason Reece. (2009). The Importance of targeted universalism. Poverty & Race. 18(2).
Just Health Action (n.d.) Introduction to environmental justice, equity, and health. Retrieved from ? http://justhealthaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/JHA-Lesson-Plan-3-How-are-equity-and-equality-different-final.pdf
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2010) A new way to talk about the social determinants of health. Retrieved from
https://societyforhealthpsychology.org/wp content/uploads/2016/08/rwjf63023.pdf
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2017) Everett culture of health story. Retrieved from
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2015/10/coh-prize-everett-ma-story.html
Thomas, S. P., Quinn, S. C., Butler, J., Fryer, C. S., & Garza, M. A. (2011) Towards a fourth generation of disparities research to achieve health equity. Annual Review of Public Health 32(3), 399-416.
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