An illustration of the distinction between equality and equity. To the left are three children of different heights, who are looking over a fence to watch a race. One child is very tall, the second is of medium height, while the third child is the shortest. They are all standing on boxes of the same size, which are intended to help them to see the race better. The tallest child can easily see over the fence and doesn’t really need to stand on a box at all. However, the smallest child cannot see over the fence even though he is standing on his box.

On the right of the illustration are the same three children, but this time things have been adapted to meet their real needs. So the tallest child is not standing on a box, the medium child is standing on one box as before. Meanwhile, the shortest child is standing on two boxes placed one on top of the other. All three children are now well able to see the race.