Equality

In theory

Equality can be described as the equal and same treatment of everyone irrespective of their sex, gender identity, race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religion and body ableness to have the same access to enter and advance in academia while also receiving equal and the same pay. Underlying such an understanding of equality is an ‘equal opportunity’ and ‘equal treatment’ perspective which denote that groups are equal and therefore must have equal rights, access and representation (see Van den Brink, Benschop & Jansen, 2010 for a discussion).

In practice

Equality can be recognized as the practices and behaviour that contribute to an equal distribution of access, resources and opportunities yet of which the outcome may be unequal. An example of this may be outreach programs of Dutch universities to attract first generation students.