ABSTRACT
Equality is treated as a concept necessarily connoting the formal equality of individuals. This chapter aims to plead for an understanding of equality as a dynamic concept, one that has been subject to change over time. It shows that the concept of equality has undergone at least two profound changes. The first change made the principle of universal equality the basis for all legislation. The latter of these changes has brought the concept of discrimination to bear in the legal practices connected with the concept of equality. Equality of men is an abstraction which reduces into irrelevance human differences that, in themselves, are self-evident. Gender emerged as a political category when the principle of equality gained social and political importance. An important conceptual change takes place when the former context of discussing equality as opposite to the condition of slavery is replaced by a new opposition, setting equality against discrimination and giving equality the primary connotation of non-discrimination.
