From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Equal opportunity is a descriptive term for an approach intended to provide a certain social environment in which people are not excluded from the activities of society, such as education, employment, or health care, on the basis of immutable traits. Equal opportunity practices include measures taken by organizations to ensure fairness in the employment process.

In job advertisements and descriptions, the fact that the employer is an equal opportunity employer is sometimes indicated by the abbreviations EOE or MFDV which stands for Male, Female, Disabled, Veteran.

In the pursuit of a meritocracy, pursuit of equal opportunity is essential.

Equal Opportunity is often considered separate from basic Freedoms. For example, Freedom of Speech is usually not within the realm of Equal Opportunity but rather within basic rights. Equal Opportunity consists of additional elements crucial to a meritocracy, such as:

• Consideration for employment, housing, and education free from immutable characteristics such as race, age, or disability;
• Equal access to goods and services from the government

In practice, methods for fulfilling equal opportunity can be less than complete or ineffective. Indeed, the means by which to measure the success or failure of equal opportunity policies is unclear. Opportunity itself is often difficult - if not impossible - to accurately measure. Thus, in practice, equal opportunity is said to exist when people with similar abilities reach similar results (equality of outcome) after doing a similar amount of work. Indeed, equal opportunity and equality of outcome are often seen as complementary. Other societal traditions interfere with equality of opportunity, however; for example, as long as wealth, and thus opportunities, can be passed from one generation to another through inheritance, it is unclear how equality of outcome would come about for two children of similar ability, one born into the elite class and one born into the middle or lower class.

• Asset-based egalitarianism
• Affirmative action
• Equal Opportunity Employment
• Universal access
• Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (Belgium)
• Commission for Equality and Human Rights (UK)
• Commission for Racial Equality (UK)
• Disability Rights Commission (UK)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (US)
• Equal Opportunities Commission (UK) - gender equality
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Australia)
• Office of Fair housing and Equal Opportunity
• New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program
• U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
• Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (EU)
• Equality inclusion
• Equality of outcome

• United Kingdom
  • UK Government Women & Equality Unit
  • The Scout Association of the UK
• United States
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (US) - the branch of the U.S. government that enforces equal opportunity laws in workplaces.
  • Department of the Interior Office for Equal Opportunity (US)
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Equality of Opportunity