Equality is about equalizing the legal or social circumstances of comparable people or groups. Initially, the term equality was usually used, but today the word equality is understood to be the more appropriate term. This is also a paradigm shift: equality means that disadvantages of social groups are eliminated through political measures and state regulations. Equality, on the other hand, only creates equal starting conditions of a legal nature. It has been shown that formal rights are not sufficient to correct inequality.
The term equality usually refers to equal rights for women. A number of equality policy measures are required to ensure that their rights, obligations and opportunities are equally taken into account. In this respect, the demand for equality between women and men is the more far-reaching term.
Equality is a human rights issue. It is about social justice as well as equal opportunities. It is seen as a basic condition of democracy and as an indicator of people-oriented sustainable development. Gender equality is not a women's issue, but also affects the interests of men and gender diversity.
Source: Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2025, https://www.fes.de/wissen/gender-glossar