The Differences Between Equity and Equality – Things to Know 

Equality means giving everyone the same resources and opportunities. Equity takes social injustice into 
account. This helps us understand that individuals and communities have different needs based on lived 
experiences of oppression and/or privilege. Different needs call for different types or amounts of 
resources (National Resource Center on Domestic Violence [NRCDV] & National Sexual Violence 
Resource Center [NSVRC], 2021). 

“Racial equity is a process of eliminating racial disparities and improving outcomes for everyone. It is the 
intentional and continual practice of changing policies, practices, systems, and structures by prioritizing 
measurable change in the lives of people of color” (Race Forward, n.d.). 

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It is important to know the difference between these terms, equity and equality, and how they relate to 
each other because sometimes a solution for one person may not help someone else. 

To illustrate this point, imagine if you wanted to increase bike riding in your community, so you gave 
every person a 10-speed bike. For some people, this is all they would need in order to go on a bike ride. 
But if we think about this through a lens of racial equity, we will understand that we would need to 
eliminate racial disparities so that everyone is able to go on a bike ride. Why would this be? 

Some communities have a history of racial injustice and are not safe places to ride bikes, because of 
poor road and traffic conditions or lack of ability to gather safely outside. Racial equity would mean 
changing the infrastructure of the community so that bike riding is safe both physically and socially. 

There are also stereotypes about bike riding being seen as a fun or athletic activity that is reserved for 
white people, which can be seen in media and sports. This means people of color may face unfair and 
racist scrutiny when riding a bike. Incorporating racial equity would mean making sure that everyone has 
enough leisure time and opportunity to go on bike rides. This could mean having widespread access to 
well-paying jobs and shorter commutes to work. Incorporating racial equity would also mean changing 
social perspectives so that riding a bike is seen as something fun for everyone to do. 

The example of bike riding is a way to illustrate the importance of incorporating racial equity. So what 
would racial equity look like in sexual violence prevention? 

In our work to prevent sexual violence, we can expand our vision from individual needs to community 
needs and incorporate racial equity in order to make widespread change that works for more people. 

One possibility for this could look at changing policies and practices, like updating a school dress code 
and training teachers and staff so they can eliminate bias and fairly enforce these rules. Studies have 
shown that many school dress codes perpetuate racial and sexual stereotypes (Sherwin et al., n.d.). They 
also show that many adults perceive Black children to be older than they are, which is called 
adultification bias (Georgetown Law, 2019). This bias leads to more scrutiny of Black girls (Gandhi, 2021) 
and can lead to unfair punishment like being sent out of class and even discipline by police (National 
Women’s Law Center, 2018). If we did not incorporate racial equity into the work of updating student 
dress codes, we could miss the ways that dress codes can be racist and lead to unfair punishment. Doing 
this work to change dress code policy and enforcement can reduce risk factors for sexual violence, like 
weak educational and social policies and harmful social norms (NSVRC, 2022). 


Whenever we are working with a community, we can make our prevention into something that benefits 
everyone by incorporating racial equity. This way, the solutions we are creating will help as many people 
as possible. 

References 

Gandhi, L. (2021, September 14). Black girls are fighting back against discriminatory school dress codes. 
Prism. https://prismreports.org/2021/09/14/bipoc-girls-are-fighting-back-against-discriminatory-school-
dress-codes/ 

Georgetown Law. (2019, May 15). Research confirms that Black girls feel the sting of adultification bias 
identified in earlier Georgetown Law study. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/research-confirms- 
that-black-girls-feel-the-sting-of-adultification-bias-identified-in-earlier-georgetown-law-study/ 

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, & National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2021). 
Back to basics: Partnering with survivors and communities to promote health equity at the intersections 
of sexual and intimate partner violence. https://www.nsvrc.org/backtobasics 

National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2022). Risk & protective factors [Infographic]. 
https://www.nsvrc.org/risk-and-protective-factors 

National Women’s Law Center. (2018). Dress coded: Black girls, bodies, and bias in D.C. schools. 
https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/5.1web_Final_nwlc_DressCodeReport.pdf 

Race Forward. (n.d.). What is racial equity? Understanding key concepts related to race [Webpage]. 
https://www.raceforward.org/about/what-is-racial-equity-key-concepts 

Sherwin, G., Morris, L., & Wachtel, E. (n.d.). 4 things public schools can and can’t do when it comes to 
dress codes [Webpage]. ACLU. https://www.aclu.org/news/womens-rights/4-things-public-schools-can-
and-cant-do-dress-codes