Equity and social justice

To describe what equity and social justice mean to JR McKenzie Trust, it is helpful to first describes what inequality means.

Inequality describes differences or imbalances in aspects of a people’s quality of life or access to opportunities. This means that some people experience a better quality of life than others.

Equality is sometimes described as the solution to inequality. Equality is when people have access to the same supports or tools as others. However, there may be other factors that mean everyone still doesn’t have the same quality of life or opportunities.

Inequity accounts for these other factors. It recognises that people don’t always have the same chance for a high quality of life even though they might have access to the same tools or supports. This is because of other unfair conditions* in society, like racism or bias, that put some people at a disadvantage (*see above for definition of conditions).

Equity describes when people have the same chance of a high quality of life. This is achieved by making sure that those who experience unfair conditions have access to better tools or supports to overcome them. This helps to bridge the gap with other people who don’t experience the same unfair conditions.

Social justice is similar to equity. In this case, equity is achieved changing the systems that create these unfair conditions so that they don’t exist anymore. This means that everyone could have equal access to the same tools and supports and still experience the same quality of life, because there are no other barriers in the way. This is JR McKenzie’s ultimate goal, because it protects the quality of life of future generations.