The curious thing about equality is that lots of people value it and aspire to it. And yet at an individual level people are really quite phobic of it.

There is an anxiety about losing a sense of specialness or uniqueness. One of the origins of this lies in the fact that most people have had some experience of being special to their parents. How that then develops depends on lots of different factors. The problem at an emotional and psychological level is that specialness is associated with being able to be what another person needs. Lots of children have to try to locate, or have a fantasy of locating, what it is their parent needs and try to be that – as well as protesting against it. The problem is that it makes you very specialized: you are the only person who could satisfy your parents or the only person who could cure them. But of course that in itself is a burden. So it’s almost as though there is something in the way that parenting has been constructed that seems to make a certain kind of specialness essential but also very tyrannical and limiting.

Discrimination based on race is linked to health issues like high blood pressure, low birth weight, and general poor health status. If discrimination – both individual and structural – ended and everyone could access healthcare equally, communities would be healthier. Equality affecting other social health determinants (like education and economic stability) would also improve society’s health.

Racial and gender inequalities are also linked to higher exposures to violence. Neighborhoods surrounding these areas often experience residual violence. To reduce violence, inequalities must be addressed. That means identifying where the inequalities lie. Education access, job access, access to reproductive health, and political representation are common sources of inequality.

Equality and equity are often used interchangeably, but equity leads to equality. Take our example of disability rights. People with disabilities require different resources than those without disabilities. This doesn’t look “equal,” but the distribution of resources to those who need them most results in an equal playing field. Without equity, the equal distribution of resources only maintains inequality.

Versuasion Pakistan

Fareeha Robert

“Remember! Versuasions Pakistan cares about you”