ABSTRACT

Despite almost every water management system in the world having equity as a fundamental policy objective, there are misconceptions and lack of understanding of what equity and equality mean in irrigation water management that make it diffi cult to measure and monitor its

implementation at all scales and levels. Despite attention over several decades, the concept of equity has proven diffi cult to defi ne. Often the concepts of ‘distribution’, ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ are used as if their meanings are obvious, and at times, they are used interchangeably. Occasionally, ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ are also applied interchangeably when qualifying some other concept, such as ‘access’ which represents another unhelpful lack of distinction (Williams and Doessel 2006). Equality and equity are not necessarily the same. Equality can be defi ned as the state of being equal and can be measured with descriptive inequality statistics. Equity refers to being fair, impartial or right judgment and is characterized by confl icting perceptions. Equity is a complex idea that is strongly shaped by cultural values by precedent, and by the specifi c types of goods and burdens being distributed (Young 1994).