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Equity Interconnectedness BY LILLIEN WALLER
W
e often conflate equity with equality. But equity seeks fairness: it recognizes differences between people in status, context, or history. It is a more nuanced and—depending on who you ask—a more contentious concept than equality: the distribution of the same resources, rights, and opportunities to everyone regardless of circumstance. Keep reading and you’ll meet two Commonwealth School alumnae whose work and passions, empowering girls and advancing health equity in communities, are dedicated to helping us better understand what equity really means, why it is an urgent social justice issue, and what a more equitable society might look like.
In the Interest of Public Health
I
f there’s one thing that Pietra Check ’95 wants you to understand about health inequity, it’s that it isn’t just about differences between groups; rather the system itself is rife with disadvantage, and everything is connected. “There will always be differences between groups. And health risks and health exposures and health outcomes and health inequities occur when those
Pietra Check ’95 poses in a COVID-inspired public art installation and meditative space she contributed to near her home in Arlington, Massachusetts, created by artist Nilou Moochhala. 13
