Difference and Inequality

Jul 24, 2010 Editorial

Difference is one of the constants of all existence, much less human communities. Even things that are made identical become different by the fact of their separateness. In our country much has been made of the differences among our people, especially along racial and ethnic lines, which are simply the consequences of our origins.
In and of themselves, these differences should be of no importance but become so when they are coupled with the circumstance of inequality. Unfortunately, because of our history, the two concepts have become used interchangeably leading to much sound and fury and even greater misunderstanding and distrust among our people.
It thus becomes very important to differentiate between difference and inequality. There are three major approaches to exemplifying this distinction. Right up front is the fact that people that are merely different can be on the same horizontal plane; no one is above or below; in or out; or better or worse. Inequalities, on the other hand always imply a ranking in value where these terms become applicable: inequalities are invariably vertical. Individuals are up or down a ladder – social or otherwise.
Differences are also just a matter of categorisation and even of taste based on any number of arbitrary criteria. Africans are called “Blacks” but many East Indians are as dark, if not darker that the average African – yet they are seen as “different”.
Inequalities go beyond mere categories and are inherently violative of the international and universally accepted norm of the essential equality of all humanity. The implication is that a group or individual is not equal to another due to no inherent or palpable fault of its own.
For instance, as is being claimed by some, Africans are being treated unequally due to the simple fact of their difference. The difference or distinction, in a phrase popularised by the American, becomes “odious”.
But perhaps most importantly, the criterion for deciding whether a difference has become an inequality is that it must be capable of being eradicated or avoided. That an eighteen-year-old girl’s face is smoother that her eighty-year-old grandmother’s is not an inequality – it will always remain just a difference, notwithstanding all the new advances in cosmetology and Botox.
However the pay scales of women on the whole compared to men in the workforce are not only different – they constitute an inequality: they can be eradicated with the implementation of suitable policies.
Inequalities, themselves come in different guises that we should learn to recognise if we are going to ever eradicate them. There are those that have to do with health and longevity. While there is a nexus between heredity and longevity, there is an even stronger connection between the two and the social conditions under which different groups are forced to exist.
This is true between and within various countries. If such a correlation can be shown in Guyana among groups we can be sure some inequality exists. For instance, do the workers in the sugar industry have the same life expectancy that those in the Public Service?
The most visible and the most contested form of inequality in Guyana (and in the world) is that relating to material or resource availability to the several groups in the country. There is first the violation of the norm of equality of opportunity i.e. that all citizens ought to have the same opportunity to partake in the national patrimony.
Education, jobs, contacts and all other forms of “social capital” should be available to all. Is this the case in Guyana today? Guyanese can make their own judgement.
Then there is the case where because of historical circumstances, although there may be equality of opportunity in the present, the members of some groups may not be in a position to make full use of the resources. We can then look at the equality or inequality in outcome.
There is the old analogy of being told to run a race even though one’s foot was broken earlier by the system. We already know the outcome – and it will not be equal.

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