Suppose you are disabled and have to get around using a wheelchair.

And suppose I am not. I can walk without needing a wheelchair.

Now suppose you and I are at the bottom of a stairway and someone stands at the top of the stairway and says “Whichever one of you reaches the top first will get a reward”. That person is treating us equally, but it is not equitable. I would have an unfair advantage over you.

Or suppose you and I have just graduated from school and were tied for having the top grades in our graduating class. So in terms of ability and accomplishments, we were equal. After graduation, your father gave you a million dollars to start your life on your own but my father could not give me anything (financially) but a well-meaning “good luck”. Clearly, you have an advantage because of our parents’ financial circumstances, not because of our abilities or accomplishments.

The basic issue here is that despite what we are told, we are not all “created equal”. We certainly deserve equal opportunity, and equality generally means giving us all equal opportunities. But some of us have a much more favorable set of starting conditions than others. Equity tries to balance out those things as well. So, for example, in school, “equality” is -” Everyone gets the same support”, while “Equity” is “Everyone gets the support they need”.

Women need more support around their physical vulnerability. If they are raped, women get pregnant, while men don’t. Therefore, women need specific support around dealing with being forced to carry a pregnancy they don’t want, and that can destroy their mental health. Women empowerment can’t be successful with gender bias. Women are ignored in many sectors. About 50 percent of the world’s population is women and a large number of women are unemployed because of a lack of education, and opportunity. They don’t have equal chances as men. Though they are equally competent, intelligent, and effective as well as men. In our male-domineering society, we always give preference to males.

On further note talking about India, women are very much subjected to domestic violence, as the literature in India doesn’t talk about the honor of women but they talk about how to control their women.
Many women in a relationship can’t ask for divorce despite domestic violence just because of the fear of society that would these so-called people talk about them and how would they spend their further lives. Sometimes these beliefs lead to suicides and murders.

It’s not just the system that has to be changed it’s every individual who has to change their mentality because individuals when united can bring a massive change.

Giving women a choice on the matter is equity. It empowers a raped woman to regain a bit of agency as to what happens to her body.