Equality of opportunity

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Equality of opportunity refers to humans having a level playing field on which to compete.

Compare to equality of outcome in which the playing field is engineered such that all participants in a particular contest will experience the same outcome or as close as is practically possible.


The notion of equality is an interesting one. Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome are not the same thing. Equality of outcome is to enforce proportional results consistent with the wider community or perhaps to actually advantage a minority group. This is often done through quotas and affirmative action programs. Equality of opportunity is to not disadvantage people regardless of their gender (or other characteristics). The difference arises because men and women show marked differences in choices they make as they go through life. These differing choices lead to differing outcomes, even if they had the same opportunities.

Increasingly the term equality is being used by SJWs to mean equality of opportunity whereas equality of outcome is being called equity.

See Also