What is Equality?

To find out the meaning of equality we need to break the word down. The base word
equal means same. Therefore everyone should be treated the same in a
democracy. But what does this really mean?

Imagine our class was a very small democratic community and that
we were having a vote for a student leader. However, the girls vote
was worth 2 points and the boys vote was worth 1 point. If the
leader wanted to be voted in who would they focus on, whose
needs would they want to meet?

Now, imagine that our class rules that everyone agreed to only
apply to the boys. So if a girl broke one of the rules there would
be no consequences. If the boys were always in trouble how
would this affect their rights and their opportunities?

How about if we said people with freckles werent allowed an
education because their freckles were distracting to others and
drained their own brainpower so they wouldnt be able to keep up with the rest of
the class! Think about how this makes people with freckles vulnerable? What do
they lose by missing out on an education?

From these examples we can understand that within our society equality means that
everyone has the same status (no person is above another person), everyone is the
same under the law, everyone has the same rights to education and everyone has
the same opportunities


Consider:
Why would equality be a democratic value?
EQUAL What are the benefits of equality for all?
What are some disadvantages of equality for all?
What do people mean when they say equal rights?
How might minorities in Australia get equal rights?