P.

201, Unit-02
Q1. Discuss the meaning and definition of Equality.
Ans. - Introduction:
Equality is one of the basic pillars of democracy. Due to the tradition of slavery in the ancient times,
equality had no importance. But in 18th century, especially after the Declaration of American
Independence and French Revolution, the concept of equality became more popular. Through the
American Declaration of Independence issued on July 4, 1776, the Americans had said, “We hold these
truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” After this the French Revolutionaries had
raised the slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and these principles were made the basic of the
French Revolution and the French National Assembly had said it quite clearly by issuing Declaration of
Rights of Man in 1789 that, “Men are born free and always continue to be free and equal in respect of
their rights.” After this, in 19th and 20th centuries with the development of the democratic principles
the concept of equality became more and more popular and it is the basic principle of the present age.

Meaning of Equality: Equality, which means state of being equal, is derived from aequs/ aequalis,
meaning fair. Different scholars hold different opinion about the meaning of equality. In common
terminology, equality means equal income, equal distribution of wealth and equal treatment with every
individual. But this is not the correct meaning of equality because all men are not equal. Some are more
intelligent and some are less intelligent, some are hardworking whereas some are lazy and shirker.
Therefore equal treatment with all is not possible because honest and dishonest men cannot be given
equal treatment. Similarly wealth cannot be distributed equally among all. In fact by equality, we mean
to give equal opportunities to all living in the state. Besides this equality also means to decrease wide
disparities being found in the society, absence of special rights, and fulfillment of the basic needs of
the individual and provide equal opportunities to all on the basis of their ability.
Two Aspects of Equality with Regards to its Meaning:
1. Negative Aspect: By negative aspect of equality, we mean that since the nature has created
everybody equal, therefore, equal treatment should be done with all, no discrimination should
be made on the basis of one's intelligence, ability, education and commitment etc. Everybody
should be provided equal rights and equal facilities. But according to famous thinker Appadorai,
"The statement that all men are equal is erroneous as that the surface of earth is level." So,
the negative aspect of equality does not give the correct meaning of equality.
2. Positive Aspect: By positive aspect of equality, we mean to provide equal opportunities to
everybody to grow and to do equal treatment with all. But this does not mean that a bricklayer,
a doctor or an engineer be given equal salaries. Equality means that every individual should be
given equal opportunities according to his ability and qualification. Everybody should be given
equal wages for the same job and the basic needs of every individual should be fulfilled.
Definitions of Equality:
According to D.D Raphael, "The Right to Equality proper is a right of equal satisfaction of basic
human needs, including the need to develop and use capacities which are specifically human."
Laski described that "Equality means that no man shall be so placed in society that he can over-
reach his neighbor to the extent which constitutes a denial of latter's citizenship." Barker opined that
"Equality means equal rights for all the people and the abolition of all special rights and privileges".
G. Sartori explained that "equality has so many facets and so many implications that after we
have examined it from all angles we are left with a feeling of not having really mastered it."

Q2. Discuss different types of Equality.

Ans. - Equality is a multi-dimensional concept, it has different kinds ranging from its natural or moral
variety. That is purely an ideal, to its social or economic counterpart. That is purely a realistic affair.
We may briefly mention specific kinds of equality in the following manner:
 1. Natural Equality: It implies that nature has made all men equal. In ancient times the stoics of
Greece and Roman thinkers like Cicero and Polybius contradicted the principle of natural equality
as advocated by Plato and Aristotle by insisting that all men were equal according to the law of
nature. Though human differ in respect of their physical features, psychological traits, mental
abilities and capacities, all humans are to be treated as equal humans. All are to be considered
to avail all human rights and freedoms.

2. Social Equality: Social equality is referred as equal rights and opportunities for development
for all classes of people without any discrimination such as civil rights, freedom of speech,
property rights, and equal access to social goods and services. However, it also includes concepts
of health equity, economic equality and other social securities. It also includes equal
opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole of society. Social equality requires the
absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination
motivated by an inalienable part of a person's identity. For instance, sex, gender, race, age,
sexual orientation, origin, caste or class, income or property, language, religion, convictions,
opinions, health or disability must not result in unsatisfactory treatment under the law and
should not reduce opportunities unreasonably.
Specifically, Social equality stands for:
a) Absence of special privileges for any class or caste or religions group or an ethnic group.
b) Prohibition of discrimination against any one on the basis of caste, colour, creed, religion, sex
and place of birth.
c) Free access to public places for all the people, i.e. no social segregation.
d) Equality of opportunity for all people. It however accepts the concept of protective
discrimination in favour of all weaker sections of society.
Contemporary theme of social equality is to eliminate gender inequality, to ensure equal status and
opportunities to the women and to ensure equal rights of male and female children to live and develop.

3. Civil Equality: It is elaborated as the grant of equal rights and freedoms to all the people and
social groups. All the people are to be treated equal before Law. Civil liberty comprises of the
enjoyment of similar civil liberties and civil rights by all the citizens. Civil laws should treat all
the individuals equally. There should not be any discrimination of superior and inferior, the rich
and the poor, caste and creed, colour and race, clam and tribes, groups and classes. Rule of law
is in force in England and in the eyes of the rule of law all are equal. Equal treatment is given to
all by the rule of law.

4. Political Equality: It is referred as equal opportunities for participation of all in the political
process. This involves the concept of grant of equal political rights for all the citizens with some
uniform qualifications for everyone. All citizens must possess similar political rights, they should
have similar voice in the working of the government and they should have equal opportunities to
actively participate in the political life and affairs of the country. Political equality guarantees
the enjoyment of similar political rights to all citizens. Universal adult franchise is a means to
this end. Universal adult suffrage has been introduced in India. The same provision has been
made in England, U.S.S.R., U.S.A., France and many other countries.

5. Economic Equality: Economic equality does not indicate that equal treatment or equal reward or
equal wages for all. It denotes to fair and adequate opportunities to all for work and for earning
of their livelihoods. It also means that primary needs of all should be fulfilled before the special
needs of few are gratified. The gap between rich and poor should be lowest. There should be
equitable distribution of wealth and resources in the society.
 Economic Equality is closely associated to political equality. Professor Laski stated the
immense significance of economic equality. "Political equality is never real unless, it is
accompanied with virtual economic liberty; political power".
According Lord Bryce, Economic Equality "is the attempt to expunge all differences in
wealth' allotting to every man and woman an equal share in worldly goods". But this concept of
perfect economic equality can never be materialized in practical politics.
Generally, economic equality mean the provision of equal opportunities to all so they may
be able to make their economic progress. This can be done only in Socialism and not in Capitalism.
Henceforth, Capitalism should be replaced by Socialism.

6. Legal Equality: Legal Equality is defined as equality before law, equal subjection of all to the
same legal code and equal opportunity for all to secure legal protection of their rights and
freedom. There should rule of law and laws must be equally binding for all. In every society
equality must be ensured in all these forms.

7. Equality of Opportunity and Education: Equality of opportunity and education means that all the
citizens should be given equal and similar opportunities by the state. All the individuals should
have similar chances to receive education. They should have similar opportunities to develop
their personality. Racial or any type of discrimination should not be observed. There should not
be any distinction of caste and creed, colour and race, rich and poor. In India, all are provided
with equal opportunities and all have equal rights to education.

Q3. What is Formal Equality? Discuss.

Ans. - John Locke, the English philosopher remains one of the most eloquent defenders of the idea of
equality based on the natural equality of men. (Needless to add that in Locke’s scheme of affairs,
women did not feature at all!) Kant reinforced this position further by talking about universality and
equality as a consequence of this universal humanity. Thus, formal equality came to imply that by virtue
of their common humanity, all individuals should be treated equally.
The most important expression of this idea is the principle of legal equality or equality before
the law. All individuals should be treated equally by the law irrespective of their caste, race, colour,
gender, religion, social background and so on. While this was a welcome step in the fight against special
privileges based on race, gender, social background and other similar criterion, it remained a very
limited notion on its own. This principle ignores the fact that handicaps imposed by caste, gender or
social background could be so overwhelming that individuals would not be able to benefit from the
formal equality that the law bestows upon all individuals.
In this context, it would be appropriate to note that it was this inadequacy that led Marx to
examine this question in his essay ‘On the Jewish Question’. He contended that formal equality while
being a significant step forward could not bring about human emancipation. While the market did free
people from the barriers imposed by social rank and other similar categories, it did nevertheless create
differences based on class that were upheld by the existence of private property. This implied that
individuals had starkly different market values and hence, Marxists describe formal equality in this
context as market equality, which is little more than a façade to disguise the deeply unequal nature of
society.
Today, egalitarians have moved away from the notion that all human beings are created equally and
hence, must have equal rights; this is so because of the fact that in most of the important aspects,
human beings are not equal. Therefore, today, the word equality is used more in a prescriptive rather
than a descriptive sense; those policies would be backed that promote the ideal of equality without
having to depend upon some descriptive properties of human beings.
Q4. What do you mean by equality of opportunity? Discuss the importance of political equality in
democracy. (2019)
Ans. - Equality of Opportunity: Understood very simply, equality of opportunity means the removal of
all obstacles that prevent personal self-development. It means that careers should be open to talent
and promotions should be based on abilities. Status, family connections, social background and other
similar factors must not be allowed to intervene.
Equality of opportunity is an extremely attractive idea that is concerned with what is described
as the starting point in life. The implication is that equality requires that all individuals begin from a
level playing field. However, the consequences of this need not be egalitarian at all. Precisely because
everyone started equally, unequal outcomes are acceptable and legitimized. This inequality would then
be explained in terms of differing natural talents, ability to work hard or even luck.
Equality of opportunity refers to the fairness of the process through which individuals with different
backgrounds or from different social groups reach particular outcomes such as educational,
occupational goals. Thus Equality of opportunity is achieved only when there is an appropriate
opportunity for each and every individual.

Political equality started as a progressive idea. It led to the establishment of democracy in the
Western world. Political equality means access of everyone to the avenues of power. All citizens
irrespective of their artificial differences should have an equal voice in the management of public
affairs or in the holding of public offices. Thus every adult citizen should have the right to vote, to
be elected, to hold a public office. In short, it implies the prevalence of democracy and universal
suffrage. As Cushman has said: In practice the ideal of political equality has centered on universal
suffrage and representative government-modern democracy in short.
Political equality refers to equal voting rights of the people. It also refers a situation where
all citizens of particular country are free to exercise their political freedom through the voting
process without any discrimination. A country can become a democracy only when its citizens vote for
a particular party or a candidate without any fear. If a country has a lack of political equality it's no
longer remain a democratic country. Democracy is a form of Government of the people, by the people
and for the people. In democracy, after a certain age, every individual has right to vote irrespective
of his/her caste, colour, language, sex, gender, creed, religion etc. Hence it can be said that
democracies are based on political equality.
Democracies are mainly the Government of the people where the supreme power is exercised
by the people of that country. Political participation is an important concept of democracy, without
having political participation the democracy is valueless. In a democratic country, political participation
is fulfilled by voting or elections. The political institutions in democracies such as executive and
legislature derive their power from the people. This clearly signifies that democracies are based on
political equality because every citizen's vote has equal value for electing the representatives.

According to the common view, democratic government rests on the commitments to political
equality. The idea of political equality holds that political institutions ought to be arranged so that they
distribute political equality to all citizens. The task for normative democratic theory on the common
view is to articulate and attract interpretations for the ideal of political equality.

Conclusion: From the above discussion, we can conclude that democracy and political equality are closely
related. Political equality gives equal voting rights to all the citizens in democracy. In a democracy
people can exercise their political rights freely. More about democracy is a government of the people,
by the people and for the people. Thus we may say that a democratic government rests on a commitment
to political equality.
Q5. Relationship between equality and freedom. Explain.
Ans. - The concepts of freedom and equality in a group are defined in terms of individual exertions of
influence or power. Freedom is deliberated in the version 'freedom from' influence rather than in the
version 'freedom to do' what one wants. It is revealed that at the ideal conceptual level complete
freedom implies equality.
The relationship between freedom and equality is a complex as it is something people have struggled
for since the beginning of time and to continue to struggle for today. These two terms are strongly
linked, though not inseparable.
Equality has simple meaning. It is resemblance or sameness in quality, power, status, or degree.
In simpler terms, it is being the exact same as others. Freedom is the condition of being able to act
and think however you want, without being controlled or limited. The relationship between these two
first begins by obtaining freedom. Without freedom, one does not have the ability to be equal to others,
as he cannot do what he wants. Tocqueville opined that "Men cannot become absolutely equal unless
they are entirely free." One who is not free has a master who makes his choices for him. The only way
to rid himself of the master and gain political freedom is to successfully revolt against the state. With
this uprising, all people now have the ability to act however they want and because of this they are
considered equal. Once they are free from their human masters they are able to lead a life directed
by their own free will and compete on a level playing field with the rest of society.
Freedom and equality exist in the state of tension, but they also mutually dependent on each
other's as without freedom, equality is meaningless and without equality there will be no real freedom.
Equality is prerequisite for freedom and makes freedom possible. The establishment of absolute
equality also leads to the loss of equality.
The development of freedom and equality began with The Declaration of Independence which
set the precedent that "all men are created equal.” Up until this point, equality was something that
could not be attained; it was almost a foreign idea. Although only white men in America were considered
free after this great document was signed, The Declaration of Independence paved the way for many
new forms of equality, most importantly gender and racial equality.

Q6. Relationship between Liberty and Equality. Discuss.

Ans. - The general concept of liberty is inseparable tied up with the concept of equality. Liberty is a
condition of equality and vice versa. Equality without liberty will be slavery and liberty without equality
will be license of anarchy. And yet it is a paradox that there is no unanimity of opinion among writes on
the relationship between liberty and equality. Whereas some hold the view that they are antagonistic
to each other, others believe that the two are complementary, compatible and essential for each other.
De Tocqueville and Lord Acton maintain that liberty and equality are incompatible. Both,
according to them, exist in diverse ratio, i.e., more of liberty less of equality, and vice versa. 'The
passion for equality', says Lord Acton, 'made vain the hope for freedom. 'Though this conclusion is
based on a complete misunderstanding of the nature of truth, if by liberty we mean unrestrained
freedom for every individual to satisfy his appetite for wealth and power. Whenever and wherever
such a freedom has existed it resulted into a degeneration of the social order and restricting the
freedom of the many. In fact, great inequalities of wealth make impossible the attainment of freedom
for the less fortunate. Liberty. Without equality is a farce. Civil liberty can only be secured when all
are treated as equals in the eyes of law. Political liberty recognizes equal status for all and admits of
no official predominance due to any extraneous considerations but the capacity shown by objective
proofs which all may try in differ.
Therefore, to provide harmony between liberty and equality, it is imperative that freedom
should be regulated in such a manner that it harmonizes the claims of all in society. Equality, certainly,
does not mean equal opportunities for un-equals. What it means is that everyone should have those
opportunities which are necessary for the development of one's personality. It means that before
somebody could live in luxury, everyone in society would have shelter above, enough to eat and survive
and be able to lead an honorable life, reasonably compatible with the standard of life in society. To
conclude, we can surely say that liberty and equality are not antithetical. Rather they are
complementary to each other.

Q7. Discuss the relationship between equality and feminism.

Ans. - Feminists try to look at the issue of equality through the gender lens. An important book in this
respect is Susan Okin’s Justice, Gender and the Family (1980). It has been argued that equal
opportunities legislation or redistributive justice through the extension of equality principles to
different areas, in essence, cannot create equality as these rules and principles operate in an
environment which is already contaminated by the inequality between the sexes: an inequality brought
about by social practices. Many of these practices are not directly discriminatory toward women, but
their overall effect is to reinforce inequality and give it a veneer of legitimacy. Thus, although the law
may not formally differentiate between the sexes, it is the case that women tend to get segregated
into particular occupations and married women who have careers are especially disadvantaged in a
gender biased society.
Feminists point out that the position of women’s substantive inequality – their weak voice in
familial decision making, their duty of child rearing and the subsequent withdrawal from the labor
market – has nothing to do with natural and spontaneous operation of choices, but because roles are
socially constructed. However, at the same time, it would perhaps be resented even by the feminists,
if the state is involved, especially in family life, for eradicating gender differentiation. It is, perhaps,
easier, to be aware of gender inequality and to locate into the social practices and the socially
structured roles, but it is difficult to go for a remedial measure. Unless the women themselves
become aware of their inequality, of their subordinate role in family, and come forward to re-orient
the social constructions, nothing concrete with respect to gender equality can be achieved.