Is Equality a Lie? / Sarah Glover

There are many different ways that people are categorised, for which we strive not to judge them (well, most of us do). By skin colour, by race, by gender, by social class, by wealth or lack of it. Don’t judge people for things they can’t change, that’s the mantra - and it’s a good one to live by, there’s no doubt about that. What about the things they can change, or that we think they can change? I’m talking about the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality, the perhaps well-meaning but misguided idea that we should assess people only by what they do, what they achieve and how hard they work, with no regard to the above-mentioned classifications that come part and parcel of their birth. It’s not where you were born, what you were born into or what you looked like at birth that matters - it’s what you make of yourself! This viewpoint extols hard work and other personal development  as a virtue above almost everything else, and as a solution to all manner of things including poverty, racial discrimination and health concerns. The problem with this idea that skin colour, race, gender, social class, physical ability and other conditions we are born with don’t matter, that it’s what we make of ourselves that matters, is simply that they do matter. They have a huge effect on how we are treated, the opportunities we are given, and the challenges we face. While valuing hard work and other personal virtues is not a bad thing, it certainly needs to be acknowledged that not everyone starts their journey through life on a level playing field. While the way in which we approach life is important, sometimes the way in which life approaches us is the bigger factor. When we say that we judge people on what they make of themselves, not where they started from, we often mean it in a positive way. However this outlook makes it easy then to dismiss the struggles that come part and parcel of where someone started. We might look at a person who came from poverty and - quite understandably - is still struggling with debt and in need of help, compare them to someone else from a similar situation who has “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps” and become a self-made millionaire, and consider the former unworthy because the latter has done what they couldn’t. That second person may have had better luck, they may have escaped the psychological effects of poverty, or yes - they may have just worked extremely, extremely hard to get where they are. That does not invalidate the difficulty that they faced and that others still do. I was fortunate to be born into a family with two gainfully employed parents (teachers), and while we were not by any means filthy rich, we had what we needed. I haven’t known what it is to go without, I haven’t had to deal with what can be the lifelong effects of that. I had a head start on life in many ways, and someone who was not so fortunate may have worked just as hard as I have - or much, much harder - and not found themselves in the same position. While I have used wealth and the lack thereof as an example, this applies to many other aspects of circumstance which affect how people are treated, and prejudices they have to overcome. I was born female, so I can relate in a very, very small way to what it’s like to have to work harder to get somewhere - or to be taken seriously. There are others which come with much greater disadvantage. Should we discriminate against others based on their skin, on the wealth or poverty that they were born into that determines their place in a materialistic society, on their family background, or on their gender? Of course we shouldn’t. Should we overlook it and ignore it completely? I don’t think so. In the imperfect, unfair world we occupy, we need to acknowledge these differences, the prejudices that form the social landscapes we live in and create mountains for some while paving a smooth, straight path for others.

Sarah Glover